


Camp Silas

by ToniDShipper



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - All Media Types, Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, F/F, Multi, Summer Camp, The Camp Takota AU someone asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-05 09:39:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 47,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4175034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToniDShipper/pseuds/ToniDShipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura Hollis believed she had everything: a stable job, a great life, a story that can be published any time soon and a perfect girlfriend. She never expected her beautiful life to come tumbling down in just a span of hours. A drunk phone call leads her back to a place where she reunites with her best friends and meets the most annoying yet most breathtakingly beautiful person she ever laid her eyes on. Oh right, she also has the whole summer campers to deal with as well. </p><p>"Welcome to Camp Silas!"</p><p>(My first shot at making a Carmilla fanfiction, hope you all like it!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We're Going Down Swinging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or the one where it's all perfect then it's not.

_The End._

She stares at the two words on her screen that she just typed and she can’t help the smile that slowly crept on her face as it sinks into her. She’s finished. The book she’s been writing is finished.

After months of conceptualizing about her first novel – an adult fantasy novel about a vampire falling in love with the journalist trying to uncover her story and proving that she is a creature of the dark, and a lot more months of actually writing it, she finally finished.

Laura Hollis lets out a squeal as she jumps off her computer chair and runs to the bedroom to find her girlfriend snuggled up on her side of the bed. Laura walks over to the bed and sits on it, debating on whether she should share the news to Danny immediately or if she should wait before she wakes up. She decides that maybe they can have a nice breakfast date to start their day.  “Danny,” She smiles when her girlfriend scrunches her nose.  “Wakey, wakey love.” She tucks a few strands of Danny’s hair behind her ear.

“Hmm, Laura.” Danny moans out, opening her eyes slowly and smiling when she sees Laura. The redhead looks over at the clock on the bedside table to check the time. “It’s 7:30, babe. So early.”

“Well, I can’t consider it early if I never really slept.” Laura admits, shrugging.

“Laura, you can’t keep on living on caffeine.” Danny reminds but sees that Laura is about to protest. She immediately pulls Laura to her and kisses her. “Mm, yup, there’s caffeine.”  She mumbles against Laura’s lips which causes the girl to giggle.

Giggling then pulling away, Laura sighs and kisses Danny’s nose. “It’s a beautiful morning today Danny!” She exclaims, nodding her head. “Guess who just finished her story!”

Danny slowly sits up and looks at Laura who is now lying on her back on the bed. “That’s great, Laura.” She smiles, caressing Laura’s cheek. “So… when do I get to read it?”

“Uh…” Laura laughs nervously. “Soon… kinda? I just, you know, wouldn’t want to take some time from you by asking you to proofread it.” She mumbles. Laura knows that Danny is really good with the proofreading work. After all, Danny was the Lit TA at their university. It’s just that she’ll really feel bad especially now that she knows how busy her girlfriend is.

“Babe.” Danny rolls her eyes. “That’s my job. Besides, what’s stopping you now? If I remembered right, you used to ask me to proofread your stuff a lot back in college.” She says and Laura laughs at the memory. “You know what, let’s grab some breakfast before you go to work. I’ll drive you there.”

“Perfect! Exactly what I was going to ask you! I need to buy Elsie’s coffee too.” Laura groans standing up from the bed and frowning. “You’d think that after two years of working under her, she’d stop texting me every morning just to remind me to bring her morning coffee but she doesn’t.”

Danny chuckles at her, shaking her head and standing up. She starts to get dressed and Laura does the same. _Today is a good day,_ Laura thinks to herself.

\---

Laura Hollis can’t ask for more. She’s an aspiring writer and since she’s already finished her story. She has a good feeling that it’ll be approved because, hello? _Vampires_ and _adult content?_ People dig that. She smiles as she clutches the USB where she stored her story. Elsie is going to like it, she’s sure of it.

Also – Laura looks at Danny who is humming to a song playing on the radio while driving – she has a great girlfriend. A _perfect_ girlfriend. Although their friends tease them as David and Goliath because of the height difference, Laura doesn’t care. She loves Danny and Danny does too. She’s happy with that.

“Laur,” Danny asks, glancing at her. Hearing Danny’s voice brings Laura back to reality. She realizes that she spaced out while looking at her. “You up for pancakes?”

She nods, smiling at Danny who turns her attention back on the road.

After a few minutes, Danny pulls over their favorite diner, five minutes away from Laura’s workplace, Styria Publishing.

“Hey, Laura?” Danny calls her attention once they’re seated. “I’m just going to go to the washroom. Can you order for me? The usual, thanks.” She says in a hurry, pulling out her phone from the pocket of her jeans. She slides out of her side of booth and kisses Laura on the forehead before walking towards the washroom, leaving Laura no chance to say anything. Danny’s been doing that lately. She’s so busy that Laura feels bad when she has it easy. The waitress comes by their table and she orders both for her and for Danny (and that hot coffee for Elsie) before moving back to the counter, ripping a page from the notepad and clipping it on the order list.

“My gosh, Laura Hollis, is that you?”

Laura looks up to find the owner of the voice and sees Hester Perry. “Hester, hi!” She smiles and stands up to give Hester a hug. “It’s been a while! Uh, I didn’t expect to see you here. I thought you’d be at camp by now.”

“Why, yes, has been a while! Can’t even remember the last time you came by the house. Oh and, I’m just doing some last minute chores.” Hester fakes a frown when Laura lets go of her. Of course Laura knows she’s just joking. Even after years, she can perfectly tell whether her best friend’s mom is serious or simply being her funny self. Of course, Laura can’t really say that Lola feels the same about being ‘best friends’. Laura admits that she had not been able to keep in touch with her best friends and she genuinely feels bad about it but, she’s always been bad at time management. _Not a good reason, Hollis,_ Laura tells herself. “Speaking of recruiting, I’m still short of two counselors. Maybe you’d like to join the staff? I’m sure Lola will be thrilled to see you.”

Laura tries to laugh. The thought of going back to camp as a counselor is something she never thought of because, she’s grown now and as much as she enjoyed it there back then, she’s a woman with a career and she’ll soon be making it big. She can’t afford any distractions. “That sounds lovely but, I’ll have to pass.” She smiles, patting the older woman’s shoulder. “I actually work in publishing now.”

“Anything wrong?” Danny’s voice startles you and you look over to her and smile. She places an arm on Laura protectively which makes her roll her eyes. She’s doing _that_ Danny thing again.

“Danny, meet Hester.” Laura introduces. “She’s my best friend’s mother. Perry, remember?” Danny looks like she understands, nodding her head and smiling. “And, Hester, this is Danny. My girlfriend.” She says, wrapping an arm around Danny’s waist.

Hester nods, extending an arm out to Danny which she shakes. “My, my, Laura. I didn’t know you played for that team.” She tells Laura before looking up at Danny. “And my, you are a gorgeous woman.”

“Thank you.” Danny replies, finally relaxing and loosening her grip on Laura’s shoulder.

“Well, look at this old woman disturbing you from breakfast. I best get my own and leave. Lola’s expecting me to return to camp before dark.” Hester says. “You know how much of a worrywart she can get.”

Laura laughs. “How can I forget?” She replies. Hester waves goodbye to her and Danny. She settles back down on her seat and Danny follows her, sitting on the opposite side of the booth. Their orders arrive shortly after and the two of them are back to their casual talking about – Laura sighs – work. Danny’s such a workaholic that Laura wonders if _work_ is keeping their relationship alive. They rarely talk about other things. After two years of being together (and four years of being friends from college), Laura thinks it’s probably normal. They’ve been living in together since the start of their relationship after all. They practically know each other like the back of their hands.

Admittedly, she can’t really complain. She’s comfortable with that kind of setting. There’s nothing else she can ask for.

\---

It’s a busy day at the office as usual. Laura walks in from the elevator, carrying Elsie’s coffee on one hand and her bag on the other. Pushing the door to Elsie’s office, she finds her on the phone. “Ah, yes, I’ll be sure to accommodate them for the interview.” She hears Elsie say.

Slowly, Laura lowers the coffee on her table and watches as Elsie paces back and forth behind her table before ending the call and sitting down on her chair. Normally, Laura leaves right after she places the coffee on the table which is the reason why she isn’t surprised when Elsie looks up at her with a questioning look. “Need anything, Laura?” She asks.

“Well,” Laura starts, smiling at her. “I finished my story and thought maybe you’d like to give it a read.” She digs in her bag, searching for the USB. “There’s the little devil.” Laura mumbles, grabbing the USB in her bag and giving it to Elsie.

Elsie nods, smiling. “I’ll read it. When I find the time." She takes a sip of her coffee. "Now, I want you to arrange the meeting room. You're interviewing Theo, the guy playing as Shannon in the movie adaptation of one of our authors’ book. You know Inna, the one who wrote the antihero sci-fi book?” Laura nods. “Yes, well. Be sure not to talk about issues or anything that may ruin him. Promotion, not demotion. He _is_ a rising star but the people love him already. Since he's starring in one of the films that we're affiliated to, positive questions only, capiche? Also, be sure to ask him about his love life and his relationship with his co-star, Katie." Laura nods at her and was about to walk away when Elsie calls her back. "Mel will be dropping by later for an interview as well. The webseries she starts in is a huge hit. Better make sure somebody accommodates her."

Laura forces a smile and nods before exiting Elsie's office. She's back to handling social media accounts and making articles. A little while later, Natalie, her co-worker informs her that Theo has arrived and is now waiting for her in the meeting room. Together, the two of them goes to him for the interview, Natalie taking pictures and Laura asking the questions.

While Theo is really cheerful and a fun guy to talk to, Laura finds herself counting the minutes until the interview is over. She just can't wait to sit idly on her desk and text Danny about how she's doing. Of course, she knew Danny would just reply with a ' _I'm good, babe. How about you?_ '. But it's fine, Laura thinks.

"Thanks for doing the interview." She says finally when Theo has answered all of the questions provided. Theo shakes both hers and Natalie's hands and asks where the restroom is. They point him to it and they move back to their tables.

Natalie sits with her and smiles absent-mindedly. "Don't you think Theo looks cute?" She asks and Laura only gives her small 'hmm' in reply. "Ah, right. You don't play for both teams." Natalie teases and Laura just laughs, throwing a crumpled piece of paper at her. "So, how are things going with you and Danny?"

Sighing, Laura stretches her arms and yawns. "Too great." She shrugs. "I'm getting some juice from the vending machine." She stands up from her seat and Natalie follows her.

"Too great good or too great bad?"

"What's that even supposed to mean?"

Natalie rolls her eyes and smirks. "Come on Laura. We both know too much of something isn't good. And you said 'too great'." She says animatedly. "Looking for a bit of trouble in paradise?"

"No, it's just that-"

They were interrupted by the sight of Theo and Mel, the girl in the webseries that Elsie was talking about earlier. The two of them are making out passionately on the stairs which nobody uses because technology is so great and elevators are amazing. Laura's surprised to hear the silent shutter of Natalie's camera.  "Nat!" She hisses, pulling Natalie away from taking another picture but the girl only snaps another photo. "Let's go now." Laura pushes her friend away from the stairs and back to their desks. “You better delete those photos.”

“Hmm…” Natalie hums. “I can’t believe that they’re a thing!” Natalie says, and Laura’s thankful that she didn’t shout it out. “Mel is so lucky. Then again, Theo’s lucky too. They’re both hot.”

“Well, this is going to be a big issue since, wasn’t Theo ‘supposed’ to be dating his co-star in the film adaptation of Inna’s book?”

Natalie laughs. “Oh come on, Laura. That could just be some publicity stunt. You know how teens dig love teams these days.”

True. But Theo might also just be cheating. Maybe. But Laura doesn’t have to meddle in that because this is showbiz and that’s what everyone does these days. She’s lucky she found one of the few loyal ones. “They should be careful where they decide to eat each other’s face out.” Laura mumbles.

Natalie tells her that she’ll go to the vending machine downstairs and volunteers to get Laura her ‘ _daily dose of grape soda’_. Laura laughs, saying thanks.

“Laura,” Elsie peeks through the ajar door to her office. “Kindly upload the pictures of your interview with Theo. Publicity, darling.”

 _Good thing Natalie left the camera._ Laura thought and plugs the digital camera on her computer before logging in their facebook account and uploading the photos. She goes to the restroom while waiting for it to finish uploading. She wonders about the story she wrote. She really hopes that Elsie reads it. Laura’s been writing articles that always get good reviews plus, Elsie knows that she has potential in creative writing so, maybe, a definite maybe, she has a good chance that she’ll have her story published.

Laura exits the washroom and sees that all photos are ready to be published. She clicks the publish button. This is also the time Natalie returned.

“Perfect timing! I just finished uploading the pictures from earlier’s inter-” Laura is interrupted by the facebook notification tone popping-up one tone after the other. Laura looks at the screen of her computer and sees 74 notifications immediately that grew to a hundred in just ten seconds. “What the…”

“Oh my god, Laura. Have you deleted the pictures?”

“What pic- oh my god,” Laura feels as if her world came tumbling down. “You didn’t delete it earlier?” She looks at Natalie then back to her computer. She opens the notifications and sees comments and shares of Theo and Mel’s kissing picture.

“LAURA!” Elsie comes out of the office, looking enraged.

“HEY, WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS?!” This time it’s Theo, with his strong native accent, who is coming from the hallway towards the stairs, holding his phone up. Mel is behind him, looking quite angry as well.

\---

Laura finds herself standing in front of her and Danny’s apartment door, holding a box of her things from work. She’s fired. She can’t believe it. Her shot on her own book is gone. And also her job, yes. It’s gone. Everything’s gone. She can’t believe it.

She settles the box on the ground, reaching for her keys in the bag. She has to be given an award for keeping a straight face on the way home. She figured that she shouldn’t bother Danny and ask her to pick her up because Danny is _working,_ unlike her who is now unemployed. She opens the door and drags the box inside. Before she could even cry, she notices that something is off.

“Uh, Laura, hey.” Danny emerges from their bedroom, her hair slightly dishevelled and she’s wearing the clothes she wore when she woke up, the spaghetti strap tank top and her black shorts. “What are you doing here? You’re home early.”

By then, Laura decides it’s time to cry. She let her tears fall freely. “Guess who just got fired.” She tries to laugh but it comes out as a mixture of a snort and a sob. _Disgusting, Laura._ “Technology hates me. I shouldn’t have been in charge of the social media. Technology doesn’t like me.  I had a flip phone until I was 18.”

“Wha-? What happened?” Laura realizes that Danny has the right to be confused. Even she can’t come up with a conclusion with what she just said. “Let me get you a drink and we’ll talk.” Danny grabs a glass and fills it with water before handing it to Laura. “You know what, let’s go talk about this somewhere that can help calm you down. Or better yet, let’s drink. Yeah, you and me on a Tuesday afternoon.” She smiles.

Laura takes the glass of water from Danny and looks down on it. “Danny, why are there two glasses of water on the table?” She asks, glancing at the objects in question. “Did someone come over?”

Danny pales at this and Laura tries, desperately tries to will the image of what could be happening right now. Danny’s not at work. Danny’s hair is dishevelled and she’s wearing her bed clothes. Two glasses on the table which is still moist – it wasn’t long ago since they were placed on the table.

All the confirmation Laura needs is – “Dan, baby, what’s taking you so…”

A girl trails off as she emerges from _their_ room in nothing but _their_ bedsheet. Laura looks back and forth between Danny and the girl. She doesn’t say anything but she storms into their room, grabs her empty luggage, opens her drawers and fills the luggage with her things.

“Laura,”

“Shut up, Danny. I don’t need to hear this.”

She just continues to put her things in her luggage, in a very angry manner, before closing it and grabbing her sports bag and doing the same.

As soon as she collected her things, she stands up to look at Danny and the girl who doesn’t seem to be affected by all this. Danny on the other hand, looks torn on whether she should let her go or not. Laura drags her things out of the room and closes the door shut. _Shit, my office things._ Laura groans, opening the door once again. She steps inside, the two girls still on the same spot they were on before. She lifts the box of her office things and looks at them.

“Screw you.” Laura groans, putting the box on the floor and grabbing a picture frame with her and Danny’s picture in it. She throws it inside the room and glares at Danny. “Oh right! You two have been already!”

With that, she slams the door shut.


	2. Then I Saw Her Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the one where Laura realizes she shouldn't be calling people while drinking because now she's back to camp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the wonderful responses, everyone! 
> 
> Chapter warning: Alcohol Intake

_"You’ve reached Lance Hollis. I cannot take your call right now but I’ll call you back as soon as possible. Have a nice day."_

Of course her dad would say ‘have a nice day’ in his phone’s voicemail greeting, Laura smiles at the thought of her dad. It took her three hours to travel back to her hometown and being there made her remember who she was before: _a dreamer._ Laura remembers how much she loved being there, talking about making it big in the publishing industry, and her parents would always encourage her to follow her dreams.

Oh, how she misses them so much.

Laura had been hoping to be able to find her dad home but he’s probably going to work the night shift again so she decided to call him. “Hey Dad.” Laura starts, trying not to sound so miserable but so far, she’s already let out a sob and a sniff. “I hope you’re alright over there. Must be busy at the hospital, huh?”

“I called because well, I just wanted you to know that I’m in the house and that I kind of ended it with Danny. Not officially since I just stormed out of there. It’s a long story. Please don’t send her threats saying you’ll dissect her or whatever with an unsterilized scalpel.” She vaguely remembers it but her dad did say something about an unsterilized scalpel when Laura introduced Danny to him as her girlfriend. “Also, I got fired today Dad.” She feels odd that she’s more upset about the job now rather than the fact that she got cheated on.

Slumping down the couch, Laura checks her phone. She already has at least 50 messages from Danny.

_Laura please._

_Laura I’m sorry._

_Babe, talk to me._

_I’m really sorry._

Almost everything read like that.

Natalie also sent her a long text about how sorry she was. Laura shrugs. There’s nothing to be done now. Her life’s just so messed up, she doesn’t know what to do. Laura walks over to their fridge and sees that her dad has tons of canned beer in there. _I told him to stop drinking,_ Laura groans.

She grabs one.

\---

Apparently, one isn’t enough and Laura tries to count how many she’s had. _One, two, three, uh, four, five, what comes after five? I see so many cans. They're spinning._

She looked at Danny’s facebook profile and she saw who the girl Danny was with earlier. _Sarah Jane._ Laura groans. It's that girl who never failed to like Danny’s posts and whenever she’d ask who she was; Danny always tells Laura that _SJ is just a friend back from junior high._ Again, Laura starts crying. _Sarah Jane looks like a freakin’ model!_ She wipes her tears with the sleeves of her shirt. “I’m no match against you.” Laura groans at one particular photo of Sarah Jane in a two piece swimsuit. “L-Look at you! You’re tall and fit and you’d be able to do that 69 thing with Danny without looking awkward!” She lets out a huge sigh before grabbing her can of beer which is already empty.

Laura stands up from her seat and wobbles towards the fridge getting another can and opening it. Once she has grabbed one, she walks past the fireplace but this time, she stops at the sight of the old photos there. There’s one with her when she was seven. She was with her mom and dad. Laura immediately cries after seeing this. “I miss you, mom.” She sobs. Her attention is diverted to the next picture. It is a picture of her and her best friends when they were still at camp. Perry was smiling brightly while LaFontaine was making the weirdest face she’d seen. She, on the other hand, held out her hand in a ‘v’ sign.

She plops down on her previous spot and scrolls down her facebook again before a notification pops out. Hester tagged her in a picture. It’s her batch’s group photo. On its caption, it says: _‘Found this in some of the camp’s files. Glad to see you earlier. You’ve gone a long way Laura!’_

She smiles. Kid Laura looks so dorky there, still with her braces on. She’s smiling widely at the camera in between her two best friends, their arms around her shoulders. She’s much smaller than the two of them. Out of impulse, Laura digs into her pocket. She wonders if Hester still had the same number. She just wants to know how everyone’s doing.  After seeing the number, she calls it.

“Hello?”

“Hester! Hi, it’s Laura!”

“Laura dear, hello!”

She doesn’t know what she’s saying. It’s as if her mouth is moving on its own. The call lasts for minutes, Laura can’t really tell an estimate because she is totally out of it. The last thing she remembers is Hester squealing delightedly on the phone before their call ended.

\---

“Rise and shine, baby girl.”

“Mm, five more minutes.”

“J.K. Rowling is at our town bookstore.”

Laura bolts up and immediately cringes at the pain that surges through her head. She hears her father laughing. “Ow, wow, okay. Not cool, dad.” She opens her eyes and darts her sight towards the side of her bed where her Lance chuckles. “Dad?!”

“And here I thought I taught you about responsible drinking.” Lance is about to say something else but Laura has launched herself to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and crying. “There, there, Laura. You’ll be okay.” He pats the back of her head.

She doesn’t know what to say to her father. The start would be her best option but how does she begin? Everything that happened yesterday still seems to be a nightmare for Laura. She is actually hoping to see Danny when she wakes up because that might mean that she really was just dreaming. Seeing her father means yesterday was real. But she’s relieved that he’s here. “I’m so happy you’re here Dad.” Laura mumbles against her father’s chest.

Lance nods, still not letting go of his daughter. “I am too, kiddo.” He smiles, pressing a kiss on the side of Laura’s head. “Now, why don’t you fix yourself and come down to eat breakfast? Mrs. Perry called earlier. Said something about you going to Camp Silas today as one of the new counselors.” He says, putting distance between him and Laura who sniffs loudly.

Laura’s eyes widen at the mention of that. “Hester called?” She scrambles around her bed to find her phone and checks its logs. She called Hester last night; that she remembers. Agreeing to be a new counselor? When did that happen? “Dad, oh gosh. No, no, no. I don’t wanna go to camp. I must’ve agreed to this when I was drunk last night. No. Dad, I wanna stay here for a bit.”

“Laura Hollis.” Laura stills at the sound of her name. Something about when her dad says her whole name gives her chills. “What did I say about going back on your words?” He crosses his arms and Laura pouts at the sight.

“Not to.”

“There we go. Besides, this is the consequence of you drinking my whole week’s supply of beer which I still do not approve of, by the way.” He says in a serious tone but Laura detects a small hint of fondness in there. “Now, go fix yourself. You reek of alcohol, kiddo.”

For the first time today, Laura smiles. A genuine smile. She watches as Lance stands up and walks over to her door. “Hey Dad?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

Lance looks at his daughter and smiles. It warms Laura’s heart.  “Love you too, kiddo.” And he exits her room. Now that she’s alone, Laura can’t help but think about yesterday’s events again. How could Danny do that to her? She feels so betrayed. Nevermind being her girlfriend; Danny’s the closest person to a best friend she had during college and yet, she did this. She did this to her. Laura tries not to think too much about it and decides to make sense of what’s happening in her life right now.  Due to her incapacity to handle her alcohol last night, she has to go to Camp Silas as a counselor.

_How bad can it be?_

Yeah, how bad? Facing her supposed best friends whom she never got to contact for the past six years then handling a bunch of noisy kids? Yeah, what can go wrong? Laura sighs. _Everything, apparently._

She groans, standing up from her bed and making her way to the bathroom. She brushes her teeth and washes up. It’s her usual morning routine, when she actually sleeps and wakes up which she never really got to do the past few days. _Great, another reminder of my finished story._ Finished, yes, but will never be published.

Breakfast is great. Thank goodness her father didn’t make pancakes. She doesn’t need more reminders of the events yesterday. She can hear the television from the living room as she and her father eats.

_“In today’s top showbiz news, rising star Theo Hammett faces heaps of questions and criticisms from his fans after leaked photos of him kissing famous webseries star, Mel Campbell spread all over the internet yesterday.”_

Lance looks at Laura who stops eating. “You alright there Laura?”

“I did that.” She mumbles. “I accidentally uploaded the pictures of this celebrity kissing this other celebrity. It wouldn’t be that much of an issue if he’s single but, he’s supposed to be dating his co-star and it’s so messy.” She mumbles, poking her mashed potato. “I got fired because of it.”

Her father nods in understanding but doesn’t say anything. Even she doesn’t know what should be said in a situation like this. He simply reaches his hand out to pat hers. “I think it’s a blessing in disguise that you called Mrs. Perry. I believe that being in the camp will help you a lot.”

“Are you just trying to make me feel better about me phoning Hester and joining the Camp Silas staff?” Laura gives her father a smirk.

He chuckles, shaking his head. “No, no, I really think so.”

Laura smiles and resumes eating. “I hope you’re right, Dad.” She takes a forkful of her mashed potato. “I hope you’re right.”

\---

According to Hester, a family who lives near her house will pick Laura up to bring her with them to the camp. They’ve registered their daughter to join summer camp this year. While Laura isn’t really a hundred percent willing to go, she figures that maybe she can use her time in the camp for a little timeout.

Lance already left an hour ago to go to work. There has been an urgent call and all the other doctors are already attending to other patients. He advises Laura to go and have fun before he went and left for the hospital.

And so, Laura waits for this ‘family’ to pick her up. It’s really a good thing that she already has all of her things packed (thanks Danny) or else she would have had to sort out her stuff and God knows how long it takes for her to do that.

It’s already 9 AM when the family arrives. Laura waves at them and thanks them for the ride. She tries helping to load her bags on the car but Mrs. Johnson tells her husband to do it by himself. It appears that Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, despite their talk about ‘wanting their daughter to experience the great outdoors and have fun with friends’, are just sending their daughter, Julia, to summer camp just so they could have fun in Prague. Julia just keeps on playing her video games while Mrs. Johnson went on and on about their upcoming vacation.

Laura likes Prague but it’s also tied to some of her memories with Danny. They planned to go there together one day. Hearing someone talk about it used to excite her but not right now. She wouldn’t want to waste her phone’s battery by listening to her playlist of pop songs. She’s really thankful when Julia pushes a console towards Laura and asks her mother if she can play Mario Kart with her. She must have noticed the scowl on Laura’s face earlier and she tells herself to keep an eye out for this kid on camp.

Finally, Mrs. Johnson stops talking about Prague. She and her husband start having a discussion about bills (if that can even be considered as conversation since Mr. Johnson just gives nonchalant ‘hmm’s as a reply, agreeing to Mrs. Johnson’s every word – someone’s whipped).

Laura chooses Toad while Julia chooses Peach. Laura learns that she sucks at Mario Kart because Julia beat her in almost all races. She almost wins one but a red shell hits her causing Toad to tumble. Peach closes in and overtakes her character eventually which causes her to lose.

By the time they reach camp, Laura has won twice against Julia. The blonde little girl smiles at her shyly when she says her thanks and gives back the console to her.

As Mr. Johnson unloads their things, Laura looks around and notices the lack of people there. “Did we miss the drop-off?” She asks.

“Oh, not at all, Laura.” Mrs. Johnson walks next to her.

“Uh, well, l remembered drop-off day to be more… noisy and hectic. Chaotic, if you’d prefer the term.” Laura explains.

Mrs. Johnson smiles, Laura tries to ignore that she looks like a fox when she smiles because of her eyeliner. “We dropped Julia off a day earlier. She’ll need time to adjust. Don’t get me wrong. She’s a mature and strong six year old girl-”

“Wait, six?” Laura tries to interject because Julia is six and they’re just going to drop her off like that? The older woman didn’t seem like she’ll stop though.

“-and, honestly, I wouldn’t want to be here on drop-off day with all those anxious mothers lurking about.” Laura looks at her in disbelief. “Oh, come now, I already talked to Lola about this,”

“Lola? You mean Lola Perry?”

“Why yes, Laura, that would be me.”

Laura looks to the direction where the voice came from and she sees her friend Perry smiling at her. “Oh my gosh, Perry!” She squeaks and Perry walks to her, welcoming her with a hug. Laura feels at ease because at the very least, Perry doesn’t look like she’s holding a grudge against her for not being able to contact her for years.

“You haven’t changed one bit, Laura.”

“Apparently, she hasn’t grown as well.” Another voice and Laura doesn’t have to look to see who it is. Laura lets go of Perry and looks at LaFontaine. They’re smiling at her widely and it feels just like back when they were kids. “Look at you, Frosh.” They say.

Laura notices that the both of them are wearing the Camp Silas staff shirt. “And you two haven’t changed as well.” She comments. Perry, she understands why she’s here. She’s the owner’s daughter; of course she’d be here. LaFontaine on the other hand, they never mentioned anything about aiming to be a counselor in Camp Silas but hey, them and Perry had been friends a lot longer than she had been with them so, she’s not _that_ surprised that they’re both here. They’re practically joined by the hip back then. Laura kind of longs to have someone like that in her life which is why back then, she envied the bond that LaFontaine and Perry had.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Mrs. Johnson says in the middle of our discussion. “I’d like to discuss some things about my child. I’m Annabeth Johnson.” She hands out an arm and Perry shakes it with a smile on her face.

“LaFontaine, why don’t you accompany Laura to her cabin while I attend to Mrs. Johnson over here.” Laura knows as much as Perry does how LaFontaine isn’t able to talk to the parents that well since some of them refuse to acknowledge their preferred pronouns. Some things never change. It’ll be nice if the parents are as easy to talk to as the little ones, Laura thinks.The kids can easily be taught but the parents? Some of them are really stubborn. Laura remembers how LaFontaine told them how their parents took the whole gender confession. It took them a while to accept them.

They leave Perry and Mrs. Johnson on their own and walk to the cabins. “How does it feel to be back here in Silas, L?” LaFontaine asks.

Laura tries to think of the answer that doesn’t sound like ‘ _Funny story. I’m only here because I called Hester while I was drunk and I’m might not be ready to be a camp counselor because I may need some counseling myself_ ’. “It feels good to be back. It’s quite… surreal.” Laura drags the last word out because that really feels like the best description. “I’m surprised you’re here actually. What, you’ve never left camp since we were 19?” She jokes.

“Well,” LaFontaine chuckles, “I wish. Perry and I run a daycare when camp is closed, being school season and all that. Perry just loves the kids.”

“And you just love Perry.” Laura teases. She knows how they’ve been crushing on Perry since her fourth year back as a camper. The three of them were 12 years old by then. “How did that go anyway?” She asks.

LaFontaine rolls their eyes but smiles. “We’re already what, 25? And we’re still talking about crushes?” They laugh and Laura joins them. “You know, still the ‘we’re best friends forever’.” They admit before stopping in front of a cabin.

Laura looks at the cabin in amazement. It still looks just like how she remembers it. The green walls, the maroon cabin door and the windows that really annoyed Laura back then because it makes the small house look asymmetrical. “Welcome to Cabin number 6.” LaFontaine smirks at Laura’s reaction. They settle Laura’s luggage by the stairs and Laura does the same with her bags. The two of them sit down on the stairs. “Not that I’m questioning why you’re here. Trust me; I’m glad to see you but, what brings you back here? I heard from Hester that you’re in publishing… uh, writing?” They ask.

There’s a flash of everything that happened yesterday in Laura’s mind. She got fired from work and her best friend from college who became her girlfriend for the past two years was cheating on her with this beautiful woman. She can’t really say that sob story. “Well, yeah.” She smiles, hoping LaFontaine wouldn’t see how she’s just forcing it. “I mean, I just finished writing a book and I’m hoping to have it published. I figured I needed a break and thought of Hester’s offer so, while waiting, I thought I should go here.” _Though that book deal’s kinda impossible now._

“L, that’s great! I’m happy for you!” They tell her and Laura feels quite bad for not telling them the truth about what happened. “So, I hope you still know your camp songs and their dances.” LaFontaine stands up and starts dancing while singing ‘Camp It Up’. Laura laughs, feeling like the child in her suddenly stirring. She joins LaFontaine and together they sing and dance.

“Didn’t know there’s a live performance today.” They stop when they hear a voice interrupt them. Laura looks at the pathway leading to the cabins and sees Perry smiling fondly at them. Beside her is a brunette that’s probably just a few inches taller than her. She has a much defined jawline; even her cheekbones are, Laura notices. Her eyes are a dark color of brown and her eyebrows are perfection. She’s wearing leather pants and a black shirt. _She’s so…_ –Laura takes a deep breath – _breathtaking_.  And, Laura’s jaw drops when she realizes that this girl, this utterly attractive girl, has been watching her and LaFontaine while they’re dancing.

“Hey.” The woman says.

“LaF, Laura, this is Carmilla. She’s the other counselor that my mother hired yesterday.” Perry introduces. “Carmilla, this is LaFontaine. They’re also a counselor here.” She says, emphasizing the ‘they’ and Carmilla nods, Laura thinks she’s understood what the emphasis meant. LaFontaine smiles. “And this is the Laura I’m talking about.”

“Ah.” Carmilla eyes her playfully. “I see.”

Laura looks at her, confused.

Seeing this, Carmilla smirks and Laura swears that Carmilla smirking at her should be illegal because it just made her heart skip a beat and that’s not supposed to happen. That shouldn’t happen. “I’m your new roommate, sweetheart.”

Her heart skips a beat again.

_Damn it._


	3. It's What You Do To Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Carmilla's a mystery and Laura tries to figure her out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like this! Thank you for the wonderful responses!
> 
> (A bit of reference from Ace Attorney because I've been playing it again and remembered it while typing this)

After that awkward introduction, Perry and LaFontaine decide to let Laura and Carmilla settle in their cabin. Despite the small house looking exactly how she remembers it, Laura takes note that the inside definitely changed. It looks like they’re using these old cabins for the staffs now. Beside the door is a cabinet and at the corner are a mini-fridge and a small side table. There are two cottage beds that are pushed against the left and right walls of the room, providing a small space in between them. At the opposite end of the room is a table with a single chair and at the corner right of it is another door which Laura assumes is the bathroom.

Carmilla drops her duffel backpack and her satchel bag on the left bed which makes Laura settle her things on the right one. She warily glances at Carmilla who unceremoniously flops down on her bed with a sigh and shows no signs of wanting to talk to her. Laura frowns. They’d be stuck together for eight weeks; they should at least get to know each other. Well, at least, that’s what Laura thinks.

“Need something, cupcake?” Carmilla looks her way with an eyebrow raised.

Laura slowly tilts her head. _Did she not catch what my name was?_ “Uhm, I just wanted to introduce myself again since earlier was really awkward.” She mumbles. “I’m Laura.”

She receives another smirk from Carmilla. “So I’ve heard cutie.” The brunette says in a lax tone, shrugging then lying down on her side to look at Laura who takes note that the annoying smirk on Carmilla’s face is still there.

“Well, I just thought you didn’t remember my name since you kept calling me stuff.” Laura whispers to herself. Why is this girl making it so awkward? “So, what made you join the Silas staff?” Small talk, Laura thinks. Maybe that will ease up the uncomfortable atmosphere around them.

“I was bored.” Carmilla replies before pulling a book out of her duffel and begins reading it. Plato, if Laura read it right.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

(So much for easing the uncomfortable atmosphere then.)

\---

Being the first kid on camp must be horrible, Laura thinks. Julia is spending the afternoon on the grassy area behind the kids’ cabins. She’s sitting against a tall tree, playing that console she had earlier this morning.

Laura watches her while she’s setting up some of the welcome signs around the camp for tomorrow’s drop off day. Laura climbs up a stepladder to place a welcome banner on one of the cabin’s walls. She takes another step up the ladder because _I know I’m small, thanks for rubbing it in._

“I should be the one doing that, creampuff.” A voice behind her says and she knows to whom it belongs to. She almost loses her footing but thankfully, the step ladder is stabled by the owner of the voice while she is able to grab on the top of it.

Laura huffs out the breath she has held when she nearly fell off.  “You know, I wouldn’t be up this ladder, doing this if you didn’t go missing earlier.” She grumbles, stepping down from the said object. As soon as she get back on the ground, she turns around only to find herself trapped between Carmilla’s arms which are on the ladder, their noses inches away from bumping into each other.

Carmilla is looking at her intensely and Laura tries not to cringe under her gaze. “This…” Carmilla starts with a frown. “…is a stepladder.”

“What?” The dirty-blonde girl asks but then realizes what Carmilla is referring to. “Same thing.”

 The brunette raises an eyebrow then opens her mouth, as if to say something, then shakes her head. She lowers down a hand and Laura steps out of her space immediately. “So, who’s that little girl over there? You’ve been looking at her since earlier.”

 _Huh,_ Laura tilts her head as Carmilla adjusts the _stepladder_. The brunette is being rather talkative now. “That’s Julia. Her parents dropped her off a day earlier for-” Laura stops, remembering Julia’s mother’s reason for dropping her off a day before the actual drop off day. “-stupid reasons.” She notices how Carmilla looks at the little girl as if she can relate to her. “Anyway, are you seriously going to climb up that thing in those boots?” She eyes the said footwear.

“Hmm,” Carmilla lets out a low hum before climbing up the stepladder. “Instead of being so concerned for me cutie, maybe you should go help the ginger twins in preparing tomorrow’s lunch?” Laura is about to question her about the fact that she just called her friends ‘the ginger twins’ but it feels like Laura has been robbed of her ability to speak as her line of sight is invaded by the view of Carmilla’s ass in leather pants as she climbs up the stepladder. “I’m not going to hang here all day you know. You can take a picture.”

“S-Shut up.” Laura marches off, hearing Carmilla’s chuckle behind her.

That girl is unbelievable, she decides. She’s so full of herself and why won’t she stop calling her edible names? Laura frowns as she enters the kitchen area in the new dining cabin (by new, she means it isn’t there the last time she went to camp).

“Is it possible to switch roommates?” Laura asks, seeing Perry and LaFontaine inside the kitchen, preparing the food.

LaFontaine looks at Perry before turning to her. They give her a questioning look and Laura shrugs. “Well, we just thought since you two are the newest addition to the staff, maybe you’d like to get to know each other first before the others.” They explain. “Is something wrong?”

Laura flops down on the seat in front of the counters where LaFontaine is cutting carrots. Perry walks over to her, handing her a bottle of water. “Thanks.” Laura smiles at Perry. “Carmilla’s a bit, intense. And I’m using that for the lack of better word.”

“Well, my mom did say that Carmilla’s quite…” Perry tilts her head, looking at Laura. “…peculiar.” She clears her throat when Laura raised an eyebrow at her. “Not that she said Carmilla’s bad. Mom knows Carmilla’s older sister who used to go to camp and, well, she recommended Carmilla to be a part of the staff which she accepted. Mom did say that it takes time for her to warm up to people.”

Carmilla seemed fine to Laura. There’s just something about her that Laura finds uncomfortable. Plus, the fact that she’s so at ease when she calls Laura all those pet names irritates her. “Yeah well, so far for me, she’s broody and she can’t seem to remember my name.” She grumbles, standing up to help LaFontaine chop some carrots.

“Ah, got a nickname too, I see?” LaFontaine chuckles. “She barged in here earlier, calling Perr and I ‘the ginger twins’. I could’ve sworn that Perry over here looked like her jaw hit the ground.” They tell Laura as they continue chopping. “She was looking for signal, service or wi-fi.”

Laura blinks at them. “There’s no service here?”

“100% cell-free zone, dear.” Perry smiles. “We figured that the whole ‘summer camp experience’ will be wasted if the kids are able to access the internet or make use of their phones. It’s really healthy for the campers.”

The dirty-blonde only nodded weakly, not sure if that’s really a good thing. At the very least, she’d be away from her work and relationship – or the lack of, actually. But is that really a good thing, though? She wonders.

“So, you want to move to a different cabin, L?” LaFontaine asks.

Before she can respond, she sees Carmilla walking over to Julia from the window. She sees Carmilla smile – a genuine smile – before sitting down next to the little blonde and talking to her. Julia looks like she’s okay with Carmilla and she lends her the console. She points something out to Carmilla and the older girl smiles at her.

She doesn’t realize that she’s smiling until LaFontaine and Perry called out her name. She looks back at them and they’re both looking curiously at her. “Actually, I think I’ll be fine.” She replies.

\---

Maybe that’s the biggest mistake of her life. In front of Julia, Carmilla seems to morph into this beautiful, kind woman. Now that it’s already afternoon and they’ve all eaten lunch together, they’re back inside their cabin. Carmilla’s back to her usual broody self. Laura wonders if there’s something about her that Carmilla doesn’t like. Maybe her dance moves were insulting in Carmilla’s eyes? Laura finds that ridiculous. Not that she’s a good dancer. She sucks, actually. Or at least she thinks she does. It’s just a bit ridiculous to think that someone doesn’t like your entire being by just seeing you dance.

If that’s not it, maybe, she reminds her of someone she doesn’t like? Like, an old friend that burnt bridges or, a classmate who used to bully her or, an ex-girlfriend? Laura shakes her head. Is Carmilla even gay? She shouldn’t even be thinking about that.

“Is this going to be a thing?” A voice interrupts her thoughts and she blinks only to see Carmilla who is sitting up on her bed, her back leaning against the headrest. “You, staring at me. Not that I mind because I’m quite used to that but, really cupcake?”

“I wasn’t staring!” Laura quickly protests. “My mind just wandered off and you happen to be in the direction where I’m looking.” She says, looking away.

“Uh-huh…” Carmilla sounds like she’s mocking her. Laura scowls at her ‘roommate’ but it only makes said woman laugh at her. “That bunched up face you make when you’re angry is hilarious, buttercup.” She smiles at Laura. It’s not the same fond smile the dirty-blonde girl saw earlier but it’s better than those teasing smirks that she has been receiving since the two of them met this morning.

Laura wonders briefly if Carmilla made it a goal to try and annoy her every single time they talk to each other. Before she can even ask her roommate what her problem with her is, LaFontaine walks in their cabin, panting. “We kind of have an emergency…” They say, looking like they’re trying not to panic. “You see, one of the camp’s staff, Kirsch, was playing hide and seek with her since we told him to watch after her for a bit and Julia’s really good at hiding, it seems.”

There is an uncomfortable silence after that. Laura glances at Carmilla who is also looking at her. She gives a slight nod and stands up. Laura thinks that that is Carmilla’s way of telling her to come with her. “Where were they playing?” Carmilla asks LaFontaine.

“Pretty much just around the cabins but we’ve looked everywhere there already.” They reply.

“Okay.” Carmilla leaves the room and Laura follows her. Laura looks back to see LaFontaine closing their cabin’s door and heading to their cabin where Perry is walking back and forth, looking worried.

Laura glances at Carmilla. She looks so focused and… _worried?_ It seems like this girl will be one huge puzzle to Laura. One moment, she looks like she doesn’t give a damn about anything then, next thing you know, she shows concern and starts to actually worry for someone.

 _Maybe she likes kids?_ Laura thinks.

The two of them walk around camp for a good measure of time but still, no luck. It’s getting dark and Laura is getting more worried because it’s going to be scary for a kid to be out on her own at night. Carmilla’s feet must be hurting from wearing her boots because she’s slowing down.

“Carmilla, do you want to take a break?” Laura asks.

“No.” Her voice is firm when she replies. Laura looks back at Carmilla. The brunette’s dark brown eyes met with Laura’s light brown ones. Carmilla conveys so much emotion just by her gaze that Laura actually feels ashamed she thought about taking a break. Though, she did ask for Carmilla’s sake so, she shouldn’t really feel bad. “Cupcake, I have an idea.” She says. “The lake.”

The dirty-blonde raises an eyebrow at her roommate and wonders why she thought of it. “Okay.” She decides not to ask and simply leads Carmilla to the lake. They’ve already gone far from the cabins so the lake is just nearby. When they reached the lake, Laura is surprised to find Julia sitting by the dock, playing her DS. Laura looks over to Carmilla, still wondering how she knew where to find the little kid. “She likes water. She told me when I looked at the game she’s playing.”

Laura remembers seeing Carmilla and Julia earlier and smiles, nodding. The two of them approach Julia who looks at them when she hears their footsteps. “Hello.” She quietly greets them.

“Hey kid.” Carmilla says, sitting next to Julia. Laura actually feels relieved to see Carmilla resting. At least she can rest her feet already. She’s already told her about the boots but the brunette didn’t listen so, that’s her fault.

She sits next to them and pats Julia’s head. “Julia, you shouldn’t have run off here.” Laura tries for the scolding-but-still-gentle tone. “You had us worried.”

The little girl looks down on her lap, turning off her console. “I’m sorry.” She mumbles, sadly. “Am I in trouble?”

Laura looks at Carmilla who flinches at Julia’s words. “No, sweetie. It’s okay.” Carmilla rubs Julia’s back, comforting her. Laura is beginning to think that Carmilla has two personalities after seeing this display of concern which is totally different from how she acts towards her and the others. “You’re fine. But, if we don’t head back to camp, Ging- uh, Perry might not give us brownies for dessert tomorrow. Do you like brownies?”

A small smile shows up on Julia’s face as she nods. Carmilla stands and helps Julia up. Laura follows suit. Julia holds both their hands on the trail back to camp.

There is something about Carmilla when she looks at Julia. There’s a small smile on her face while Julia hums a song she doesn’t recognize. To her surprise, Carmilla hums along too. There are just so much similarities between the two. What Laura’s wondering about is why Carmilla flinched when Julia asked if she’s in trouble.

Laura has a theory but it’s not a good one. She frowns at the thought.

A huge guy sees them first when they got back to camp. “Princess!” He shouts, running to them and lifting Julia up in the air. “Where’d you been? I was worried sick.” He says. Laura concludes that this is Kirsch, the camp staff who was playing hide and seek with Julia earlier.

“You didn’t find me. I win!” Julia giggles.

The tall guy laughs and nods. “Yes, princess, you win.” He turns to Carmilla and Laura. “Hey little hotties.”

“Call me that again and I will feed you your spleen.” Carmilla retorts.

“Angry hottie.” Kirsch says.

Laura is sure that if only Julia isn’t watching, Carmilla might have done what she just said. “Next time, maybe you should do your job better, lackwit.” Carmilla groans. She retreats to their cabin after waving at Julia who waves back.

“Sorry about her. She’s… aloof around new people.” Laura nods to Carmilla’s direction. “I’m Laura and that’s Carmilla.” She tells Kirsch.

“Nice to meet you. You two are the new camp staff, right?” He smiles, letting Julia sit on his shoulder. “I’m Wilson Kirsch but I prefer being called Kirsch.” He says. “Don’t worry about it by the way. She just got worried over the little princess over here.”

“I’m sorry.” Julia says once again. Laura shakes her head and smiles.

Once they’ve reported back to LaFontaine and Perry, they thank Laura for finding Julia. Laura tells them it’s actually Carmilla who thought of where the little girl may be. They discuss how Carmilla suggested where Julia may be and how the brunette handled the situation. Kirsch plays with Julia until the little girl begins to yawn. LaFontaine accompanies her to her cabin while Laura, Kirsch and Perry talk in the mess hall.

“That hottie’s hardcore huh? Walking around camp in those high heel things must’ve killed her feet, huh?” Kirsch notes, drinking his coffee.

“Yeah.” Perry nods. “She’s quite amazing.” Perry says in conclusion.

Laura nods her head, smiling fondly. “Yeah, she is.” Perry and Kirsch share a look before turning to Laura. “What?” She asks.

“Nothing dear, really. It’s just that I remembered you complaining about her earlier and now, you’re saying she’s amazing with that dreamy look on your face.” Perry smiles at her.

Kirsch nudges her side and Laura shakes her head. “Oh you two, stop it.” She says. “I’m just really impressed with her, that’s all.” Laura says. She then remembers something. “By the way, can I boil some water?”

\---

Opening the door, Laura spots Carmilla resting on her bed, her legs stretched. She’s moving her feet in a circular motion. Laura glances down at the kettle in her hand and smiles. “Hey.” She says.

Carmilla tilts her head upward to look towards her by the door. “Hey.” She replies then resumes looking at the ceiling.

Laura heads to the bathroom to grab a basin. She pours hot water from the kettle and mixes water from the faucet. She dips her hand to see if it has a nice warm temperature. When she’s satisfied with it, she comes out of the bathroom and settles the water basin by the foot of Carmilla’s bed. Carmilla eyes her curiously as she moves to the side table behind Carmilla’s bed headrest. She crouches down by the water basin and puts salt in it.

“What’s that supposed to be, cupcake?” Carmilla asks, sitting up.

Laura smiles and points the water basin. “Soak your feet in this.” She says proudly.

The brunette smirks. Looks like she’s back to her usual self. “And why should I do that?” She asks once more.

“Well,” Laura starts, pulling the single chair on the room. She sits down and crosses her arms. “You’ve been walking around camp in your boots and your feet’s gotta hurt, right?”

“And this works how?”

Laura rolls her eyes. “Must you question everything?”

“Sorry cutie, nothing personal.” Carmilla replies, sighing. “Just not used to random acts of kindness.” She smirks.

 _Why is that_? Laura wants to ask. She feels bad that Carmilla thinks that way because really, Carmilla seems like a nice person. Just a bit odd and complicated. “You know what? I’ve seen you earlier. You’re so worried for Julia and you really care for her. You’re nice and if people don’t usually do good things for you, I’m telling you now, you deserve better.”

Carmilla is looking at her with an expression she’s never seen before. Laura gulps, realizing are looking in each other’s eyes the whole time. She clears her throat and stands up from the chair to return it by the table. She then sits on her bed and watches Carmilla who is now soaking her feet in the basin that Laura provided.

There’s silence between them once again but this time, it’s comfortable. Laura smiles when she sees that there’s a small smile playing on Carmilla’s lips. She lets out a sigh of relief when her feet are completely soaked in the water.

“Didn’t know this worked so well.” Carmilla says, leaning backwards with her hands supporting her. “Where’d you learn about this?”

And that’s when Laura’s smile falters. “Uhm, from an ex-girlfriend.” She mumbles, remembering how Danny used to do that for her after her long day from work.

“I see.”

“Yeah.”

Laura looks up from her lap to Carmilla who is still looking at her. The brunette smiles at her. There’s the gentleness in her smile that makes Laura’s heart skip a beat. _She’s really pretty_ , she thinks to herself. Laura may have forgotten the fact that she was thinking about Danny just a few seconds ago.

“Thanks for this, Laura.”

There’s something about the way her name sounds when Carmilla says it that makes Laura bite her lower lip. She nods and squeaks a ‘ _no problem_ ’ before lying down her bed, facing the wall. She hears a low chuckle coming from across the room and she groans, her heart pounding hard against her chest.

What is this annoyingly gorgeous woman doing to her?!


	4. Drop-Off Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter four or the one where Laura says too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya! Thanks again for the awesome feedbacks! I updated a bit earlier this week.
> 
> A bit of warning though. It's the first time I'll be changing perspectives in this story since for the last three chapters, I've only used Laura's and, I'd like to know what you think about it.
> 
> Anyway, without further ado, here's chapter 4! Enjoy!

A wake up bugle call jolts Laura awake. She sits up from her bed and grabs her phone. _Really?_ It’s six in the morning, for Pete’s sake. She glances over on the bed opposite her and sees Carmilla burying her head under her pillow. When the bugle call repeats once more, she throws the blanket above her head and curls up in a ball.

The sight is amusing since Carmilla sounds like she’s purring and growling at the same time. “You can’t be serious! I just slept!” Laura hears her groan.

Come to think of it, Laura drifted off to sleep after she dove right into her bed because of that embarrassing reaction she made when Carmilla called her by her real name. How long had Carmilla been up then? She should’ve rest. After all, today’s the drop off day and Laura knows how chaotic that will be. She looks over at Carmilla who stopped moving now that the morning call has finished.

Laura contemplates on whether she should let Carmilla sleep in and just wake her up when it’s almost the welcoming ceremony but the said girl already makes the decision for her. Carmilla sits up, the blanket falls from her head to her lap. She is looking sleepily at Laura with pouty lips and squinted eyes. The brunette heaves out a sigh and looks around as if trying to assess where she is.

“Morning.” Laura says coyly, raising her hand up to make a movement. This seems to catch Carmilla’s eye because one of her perfectly-shaped eyebrows shoots up. Laura tries her best not to laugh because this girl is adorably cute on mornings and definitely different from the usual smirking Carmilla she met yesterday. She still looks confused though so Laura speaks up again. “Uh, Carmilla?”

“Tell me I won’t be waking up to trumpets every morning because I will seriously regret agre-” Carmilla stops talking at the sight of her roommate slowly tilting her head to the side, looking at her curiously. She shakes her head and frowns. “What time is it?”

“Six AM.”

A loud sigh comes from Carmilla. “Waking up this early should be illegal.” She groans, standing up from the bed and moving slowly towards the bathroom. “You do agree don’t you, creampuff?”

Laura rolls her eyes; of course, Carmilla’s back to calling her by edible nicknames. “Well, if you hate mornings so much, you probably shouldn’t have signed up for this job.”

The bathroom door slams shut and for the next thirty minutes, Laura’s patience gradually reaches zero as she realizes that Carmilla may or may not have slept while inside the bathroom. Reaching her forty-fifth minute, Carmilla emerges from the bathroom, smirking at Laura who stops shouting _‘Carmilla, I swear to god, if you don’t come out there anytime soon, I will be very upset!’._ Laura looks away at the realization that Carmilla only has a towel wrapped around her body and Laura scolds herself for actually gawking for a few good seconds.

“Cat got your tongue, cupcake?” Carmilla smirks.

Laura doesn’t even dignify that with an answer. Instead, she storms to the bathroom with her change of clothes and locks the door immediately. “You’re unbelievable!” She grunts, loudly enough for her roommate to hear.

“I get that a lot.” Carmilla replies from the other side of the door.

Laura grits her teeth and groans. She removes her clothes and steps in the shower only to see the drain full of hair. She’s sure that wasn’t the case yesterday. Between her and her roommate, she’s sure she doesn’t have dark brown hair. _Will it kill her to clean the drain?!_ Laura grunts.

She hears a door closing and assumes that Carmilla already left, not even bothering to wait for her or say that she’ll head out first. Yes, Laura unconsciously nods, her roommate is incredibly unbelievable.

\---

The mess hall is quiet when Laura gets there. LaFontaine is at the kitchen; Perry is talking to Kirsch animatedly; two staff is on the same table as Kirsch and Perry – one is a girl with short, ash blonde hair, the other is a guy with jet-black hair. Julia’s sitting in the middle of the two, looking all over the place. They’re all wearing the camp staff shirts, contrary to Laura’s blue polo shirt. LaFontaine spots her when they left the kitchen with a tray of food in their hands. “Laura, come on over.” They call her.

Laura walks over to them with a small smile on her face. “Good morning.” She greets.

“Laura, I’d like to introduce you to Richard and Isabel.” Perry gestures the two new faces. Laura looks at them who smiles widely at her and she nods in return. “They arrived early this morning. They’ve been staffs here at the camp for two years now. You two,” Perry faces them. “This is Laura. She’s one of our new staffs here.”

“But definitely not a new face here in camp.” LaFontaine interjects, laughing. Laura smiles at the two before giving LaF a playful shove once they settled the food on the table.

Despite the company, Laura actually notices that someone’s missing. It seems like she’s not the only one though. Julia raises her head to look at Laura. She smiles a little then looks around the table.  “Where is Carmilla?” She asks; her gaze back at Laura.

All eyes are on Laura after that. “Yes, Laura. Where is Carmilla?” Perry asks.

“Uh,” She has no clue because her roommate is one huge ball of mystery, how’s that for an answer? Then again, even she is curious. Carmilla is absolutely not in the cabin when she left. Laura’s surprised that Julia remembers Carmilla’s name though. She must’ve really taken a liking to the mysterious brunette.

The door to the mess hall opens and in comes Carmilla in her leather pants _(is that going be her trademark look or what?)_ , an Arctic Monkeys band shirt and – Laura actually smirks – a black converse. At least she dropped the boots look. She nods at all of them and saunters her way to the table, sitting next to Laura who looks at her in confusion. “Went around for a walk.” Carmilla tells her in a quiet voice. Carmilla smiles and waves at Julia who lights up at the sight of her.

“Ah, right. So, this is Carmilla. She’s new, like Laura.” Perry says, introducing Carmilla to the others. “Carmilla, they’re Richard and Isabel. They’re also part of the staff.” She adds.

Carmilla briefly looks at them and gives them a small smile before turning her attention to Julia. The breakfast went on quietly. Laura watches Carmilla’s interactions with everyone. The brunette is quiet and doesn’t talk unless she’s asked. Laura’s pretty much the same but it actually feels like Carmilla’s detaching herself from the conversation in contrast to Laura who tries to at least listen to everyone.

“The mothers are quite the sight every drop-off day. You’ll get to meet all kinds.” Isabel says on one point of the conversation. For a moment, Laura remembers her mom during drop-off day. She’d always kiss her on the forehead and say that she loves her before leaving. How she misses those days. Her thoughts are interrupted though when she notices how Carmilla begins poking her food instead of actually eating it.

Carmilla’s… _something._

The dirty-blonde girl can’t really pinpoint what exactly Carmilla is right now. She doesn’t actually look sad. Angry? Annoyed? Afraid, even? Laura doesn’t know. All she knows is that the conversation is making Carmilla uncomfortable. She can feel her beside her, tensed and stiff.

“Ah, by the way,” Laura says. They all look at them, seeing as she’s about to start a new topic. “When do the other staffs arrive?” She inquires, smiling.

Somehow, they all shift to talking about the staff members after Perry answers that the other staffs will be arriving before the kids do. Laura joins the conversation for the early part. She looks over at Carmilla who seems to loosen up now that people aren’t talking about whatever caused her to stiffen earlier. She is met with dark brown eyes as she realizes that Carmilla is looking at her, had been since she began a new topic, probably.

The growing mystery of this girl continues in Laura’s head.

\---

Turns out Carmilla _doesn’t_ like kids. At all. She’s not even good with them. She has been hiding behind Laura the whole time the kids start arriving. Laura groans, feeling as if she grew a tail that follows her around. She’s been ignoring the girl though, assisting the kids and parents. When she finds the opportunity, Laura turns to look at Carmilla briefly. “Carmilla, they’re kids. They’re not really going to hurt you.”

Carmilla rolls her eyes in reply. The dirty-blonde girl sneaks a glance at Carmilla and wonders if anything will actually make the girl look bad. Even the camp staff shirt looks good on her. Perry handed them the three sets of camp staff clothes earlier and Carmilla had the ridiculous idea of ditching the camp shirts for her band clothes but seeing how Perry gave her a disapproving look, she gave up with a loud huff _(she’s still wearing her leather pants though)_.

Laura shrugs. At least the brunette’s not being _visibly_ rude to the kids. She’s so confused how Carmilla managed to handle Julia yesterday. Laura smiles at a kid who bumps into her and pats him on the head, ushering him to the welcoming area. Carmilla tails closely behind her. “Hey creampu-”

“Excuse me,” A little girl catches Laura’s attention and asks her if she can still talk to her mom and dad while on camp. Laura nods and tells her that her parents can send her camp mails. The girl smiles and runs off to her parents. “Ah, she’s so cute.” Laura mumbles to herself but Carmilla heard her.

“You know, the thing about kids is that they look really cute and kind but then they’ll start screaming and crying until it gets too annoying.” Carmilla says, as if that justifies what she’s been doing the whole time. “Any-”

“I still don’t know why you’re acting like you’re so afraid of them though.” Laura retorts, shaking her head. Carmilla scowls at her. “Besides, some teens are here too. You can at least help them settle in.” She looks over to the group of teens under one of the trees. One looks particularly like Danny. She’s tall and has striking red hair. Laura frowns at the thought of Danny. She wonders how she’s doing. If she’s been busy with work. If she ever crossed her mind. Laura frowns at the fact that she still worries about Danny. The tall girl probably has Sarah Jane with her, minding their own business and here she is, thinking about Danny. How sad can she be?

The brunette whistles behind her, catching Laura’s attention. She turns to her, raising an eyebrow. “And what? Listen to their long talks about their apparently perfect lives where their parents spoil them? No thanks.” She shrugs.

“I really don’t understand you, Carmilla. What do you want?” Laura places her hands on her hips and frowns. Carmilla opens her mouth to speak but Laura cuts her off, thinking that she’s just going to give her a snarky response once again. “Why don’t you just go brood somewhere else rather than following me around?”

It seems that her words had taken Carmilla aback because she flinches and looks on the ground. “Well forgive me if I’m not good at this but I was actually trying to find an opportunity to thank you for what you did last night and during breakfast, assuming that you did that intentionally but since you’re so busy…” She stops, shaking her head and turning to her heels. “…you know what, whatever.” Carmilla says, looking like she’s actually hurt by what Laura said by the way her shoulders deflate. “Now that that’s out, yeah, maybe I’ll go brood somewhere, _Laura_.”

Okay, Laura did not expect that. Great, now she feels bad taking it all out on Carmilla. Unlike last night, she didn’t like the way her name rolled off of her tongue. It sounded so cold. She looks over to where Carmilla walked off to and see’s that she’s leaning against a tree, being her broody self.

Laura tries to make her way to Carmilla but she bumps into a girl, this time a teenager who scoffs at her. _Okay. Rude._

“Ah, there you are Laura!” Perry calls her, running over to her from the welcoming area by the camp stage. “I need your help with the camp activities sign-up. Some of the staff still hasn’t arrived yet.”

She smiles slightly at Perry but looks to where Carmilla previously was and sees that she’s talking to some kids who seem to have surrounded her around the tree she was previously leaning onto.  _Later,_ Laura decides. She looks back to Perry and nods. “Yeah sure, why not.”

\---

Perry looks around from the front of the staffs’ cabin, waiting for all the counselors to come inside. JP, the counselor in charge of the boys, is talking to LaFontaine about the schedules of the activities. She raises an eyebrow when JP pats them on the shoulder and smiles. Perry has no idea how the two became close but she guesses at least they’re being more open. Still, she can’t help but feel a bit bothered by this.

She wills her previous thoughts away when Laura and Kirsch enters the cabin – them being the last ones. She watches as Kirsch nods to Laura, who smiles at him. They both walk over to where they think they should be, Kirsch walking over to the other male counselors while Laura slides on the bench, next to Carmilla who has been sitting at the far back of the cabin.

She notices how Laura keeps on glancing at Carmilla. She can’t put her finger on it but it seems like there’s tension between the two. Perry knows what that pouting lips, furrowed eyebrows and uneasy posture means. Laura’s guilty of something. Did sweet, caring and all sunshine and daisies, Laura Hollis actually offend someone? That’s news.

“Hey Perr, looks like everyone’s here.” Perry hears LaFontaine behind her. When Perry doesn't reply for a while, they follow her line of sight and nods. “What’s up with those two?” They ask.

“I don’t really know, LaFontaine but Laura looks guilty. Don't you think so?”

“Yeah, and Carmilla seems to be in a bad mood. I didn’t think anything can upset that Carmilla.”

“LaFontaine,” Perry starts, glancing at them. “Are you actually implying that the girl has no feelings?”

They shrug. “Well, okay, maybe that came out harsh but really? Frosh? Of all the people huh.” LaFontaine chuckles.

Perry looks at her friend, obviously concerned. “I don’t know, dear. Do you think we should separate them? Liz has no roommate. She and Laura might get along.” Perry whispers to them.

“Laura said she’s fine, Perr.” LaFontaine places a hand on her back and smiles, nodding to Laura and Carmilla’s direction. “Besides, look at them. Laura looks like she really wants to make things work out for the two of them. Remember when Laura was new in camp and we watched her try to make friends before we approached her?” They nudge Perry’s side gently. “She’s probably reliving the experience.”  Lafontaine finishes.

She’s very thankful that LaFontaine is at her side. They always seem to know what to tell her. Then again, they’ve been friends for so many years now. Of course LaFontaine would know. They always have.

Perry smiles fondly at LaFontaine before looking at the people in the room and clearing her throat. “Okay everyone, I’ll be handing out your schedules for the camp activities.”

\---

Laura shifts on her seat, the obvious irritation radiating from Carmilla making her uncomfortable. People rarely get mad at her. The worst was probably yesterday’s mishap. Now though she’s not entirely sure if she’d consider that as the worst since Carmilla is really making her feel guilty.

At least, it was unintentional yesterday and she doesn’t have to spend time with them (given, because she lost her job – of course she can’t spend time with them anymore). With Carmilla though; she lashed out on her because she remembered Danny when the girl was just trying to thank her, as awkward as her method was.

Plus, they’re not only co-workers but roommates too.

Perry and another guy Laura doesn’t recognize are handing out the schedules to the counselors. Of course Perry had prepared the schedules of the counselors beforehand. She’s always organized after all. Laura remembers when Perry tells her back when she still goes to camp as a camper that choosing schedules for the counselors have always been a riot.

The pros of having a schedule prepared beforehand? They get out of here sooner.

The cons? Well, they’re stuck with whatever’s written on the schedule.

There’s about thirty people inside the cabin. The girls outnumber the boys but there’s a decent amount of guys there at least. Laura looks over to Kirsch who is talking to another guy who is about two feet smaller than he is.

“Ah, here you are. Laura, here’s yours.” Perry hands out a paper to Laura, causing her to look her friend’s way. “And Carmilla.” Carmilla takes the paper, not even bothering to look at it. She nods at Perry and resumes looking out the window.

The curly-haired girl taps Laura on the shoulder and gives her a worried look after eyeing Carmilla.

Laura appreciates the gesture. Perry obviously sees how Carmilla’s not in good terms with Laura at the moment. She places a hand on top of Perry’s hand which stayed on her shoulder and nods, as if telling her that it’ll be okay. Laura doesn’t know that, of course. But she’ll make it okay.

She hopes.

“People, stick to your schedules. If it so happens that you see something wrong with your schedules, please do come talk to me and we’ll sort it out.” Perry announces as soon as she finished handing out the schedules. “You’ll be working by pairs; a different person for each activity so I’m hoping that you all get along.”

“Okay everyone, lunch is at 12 sharp. Meet you all at the mess hall.” LaFontaine shouts from the front. The people start standing up from their seats but Carmilla is quicker than them because she’s out of the cabin in a heartbeat.

\---

When Mattie told Carmilla about her mother finally letting her do what she wants if she grants this request, Carmilla never thought it had to be this, of all things. She hates being around so many people. She hates noisy kids. She hates waking up early.

She just hates everything.

And now she’s really annoyed at this girl who she just met yesterday for some petty reason. Okay, maybe not that petty because she was just looking for the right opportunity to thank her but then the girl lashes out on her for unknown reasons but, usually, Carmilla won’t make a big deal out of it. She wonders why that got on her nerves and truthfully speaking, she has no idea why.

There’s something about how Laura treated her yesterday that somehow made her actually want to try and at least be nice to her but, thanks to the whole lashing out incident earlier this morning, Carmilla decides that she doesn’t want to pursue her plan. No, she doesn’t need to be close to someone who is just like _her._

Carmilla looks around the cabins, seeing the kids getting settled and getting acquainted. Her mind briefly wanders about that little kid yesterday, Julia. Earlier she observed that there aren’t many kids around Julia’s age group. Most were probably ten years of age and above. She wonders if the little girl’s making friends.

She shakes her head and sighs. It is so not like her to worry about others but, the little girl reminded her awfully about herself. And, she showed signs that maybe, she’s in the same situation she was in before. _Hopefully not,_ Carmilla thinks. Somehow, she wants to do something for the little girl. Something that she wished someone did for her back then.

 _Caring is a hassle_ , she tells herself.

Walking back to their cabin, she hopes that she can take a nap for the whole day since the official camp activities start tomorrow morning. Maybe she can skip the meals and just sleep for the rest of the day? _Sounds like a plan._ Carmilla twists the knob of their cabin’s door and pushes it open. She flops down her bed and sighs. She needs to ask Ginger One which fabric softener they’re using on these sheets because it’s amazing. She spends a few minutes trying to justify why Perry should be Ginger One while LaFontaine should be Ginger Two. Her conclusion? She met Perry first so she’s Ginger One. LaFontaine can be Ginger Two.

The door to their room bursts open and Carmilla groans, lying on her side and facing the wall when Laura enters the room. “Carmilla?” The tiny girl calls out. She doesn’t respond. “Carmilla. I heard your groan earlier. I know you’re awake.”

“What? You want me to brood somewhere else again?” The words were out of her mouth before she could even think about what she should say. What is she, _a child?_

Thankfully, Laura doesn’t comment about it. “No, no, Carmilla, look, I’m sorry.” She mumbles. “I know, I was rude earlier but I promise I didn’t mean what I said. I just remembered something and I got annoyed and I lashed out at you and I’m sorry, okay? I really didn’t mean to do that. And I’m serious about this apology because I can’t stand the thought that someone’s mad at me. One time during third grade, I cried for an hour because my friend won’t accept my apology and, well, I guess I’m just saying I’m starting to freak out about you being mad at me. I have enough people mad at me and yesterday was kind of nice and I’m rambling, aren’t I? But, really I am so sorry-”

Carmilla managed to sit up on the bed halfway through Laura’s rambling and she looks at the girl in awe. The girl is looking down on her feet as she talks nonstop. “Cupcake,” Carmilla hesitantly holds her by the wrist, just to catch her attention. “Breathing in between sentences is legal.” She reminds.

“Right.” Laura takes a deep breath and bites her lip, looking at Carmilla. The brunette fights the urge to smile because _this girl is adorable._ “I’m so sorry Carmilla. I really-”

“I heard you the first time and I’m sure I’ve heard all the other apologies that came after that.” She says, letting go of her roommate’s wrist. “Stop apologizing, sundance.”

Laura doesn’t seem to appreciate the new nickname but doesn’t comment on it again. “Okay, sorry.” The tiny girl flinches at the realization that she just apologized once again. “Yeah, so, we’re good? We’re friends?”

Carmilla rolls her eyes but smiles. “Yes, creampuff. We’re good.” She says, nodding. “Friends. Though I suggest you don’t tell anybody. I don’t do friends.”

The dirty-blonde’s face lightens up and Carmilla swears the room brightened just because of her smile. “Oh really?” Laura says, as if taunting her.

“I’ve got a reputation to keep.”

Laura laughs at this. “Yeah, you do.” Her smile softens, it’s not the same bright smile as earlier but it still conveys some sort of happiness in them. “Thank goodness, I really couldn’t handle you being mad at me.” Laura lets out a breath. She walks to her bed and sits down. “Besides, so far, you’re the only staff besides Perry and LaFontaine that I know and I want to us to be okay.”

Carmilla could only nod as she lies back down her bed once again. “Not that I don’t like talking to you, cupcake but, I could really use some sleep right now.” She smirks at Laura who seems like she’s just about to jump to a new tale about why she’s glad they’re okay. Laura blushes _(this girl can set a record for blushing so fast)_ and nods, smiling at Carmilla. With that, she closes her eyes.

She doesn’t wake up until it’s already dinner and she sees that Laura has saved a seat beside her, as if already anticipating that she’ll be up by then. The mess hall is noisy with all the kids around but Carmilla doesn’t seem to mind. She’s starving and Laura’s laughing about a joke that Ginger Two made. Their joke is indeed funny and somehow, she finds herself smiling.

Maybe it won't be so bad after all.


	5. Love? It Sucks! It Doesn't Exist!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fifth chapter or the one with letters. Tons of letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wasn't able to update last week, I'm sorry. Life and thesis got in the way. Hopefully, things will go back to schedule next week. So, here's chapter 5. Hope you all enjoy!

“Carmilla?”

“Yes?”

“Do you like red or yellow?”

“Black.”

“Carmilla?”

“Yes?”

“How about white or orange?”

“Black.”

“Carmilla?”

This must be a joke.

It’s only the end of the first week and Carmilla believes she should be given an award for her immaculate patience with the kids.

During her first day, she had to deal with a bunch of teenagers who thinks they’re all so lovely, talking about potential boyfriends. After that, the days pass like a blur. She had the worst luck ever, being paired with very talkative counselors who didn’t seem to be running out of stories.

And now, she’s assigned with toddlers. Carmilla forces a smile at the kid who has been constantly asking her questions about which colors she prefers. They’re making flower crowns that early morning and Carmilla wonders if agreeing to this is supposed to be one huge cosmic joke because she swears it’s not funny.

“What do you want now?” Carmilla asks, still forcing herself to smile _(she might actually look like she’s wincing)_ at the kid, a nine year old girl whose name she can’t remember well. _Shaira_ , she tells herself.

“I’m giving this to my best friend!” The little girl smiles widely, holding up the flower crown she just made which cut off by the junction the very second she lifts it up. She scrunches her face and settles it back on the table, trying to connect the ends of her crown again.

Carmilla nods before rolling her eyes. “Right. Good luck on that, kiddo.”

She looks around the room and sighs. Perry’s handling the activity well enough by herself. Unlike her, Ginger One is actually having fun teaching the kids how to make flower crowns. Carmilla, on the other hand, is just walking around, as if supervising the kids. Truthfully speaking though, she’s just walking to keep herself awake. Like she said, _waking up so early should be illegal._

When the kids finally got the hang of making the flower crowns, Perry walks over to Carmilla who is standing behind Shaira, watching the bubbly girl laugh as she places the flower crown on her best friend, Sherilyn, or as the girl calls her, _Sheh._ The crown falls apart again.

Carmilla finally intervenes and secures the flower crown’s wire to prevent it from getting detaching then helps the little girl to secure the wire so that the ends of the wire won’t puncture whoever wears it.

“So, ah, Carmilla.” Perry calls her when she finished helping the little girl. “How are you liking the job so far?”

_Who said anything about liking?_ Carmilla thinks but she manages not to say that out loud. “It’s okay, I guess.” _Splendid if I don’t have to wake up at six in the morning._

Perry smiles at her. At least she’s not forcing a conversation. “I hope Laura’s been an okay roommate.” Or not.

At the thought of her roommate, Carmilla tries not to smile. “She’s alright. Kind of like a tiny ball of energy.” She shrugs.

Carmilla has no idea where Laura stores all that energy. She wakes up immediately at the sound of the annoying trumpet recording from the camp’s trompa speakers. You can literally see her bouncy when she walks out of the cabin. She’s childlike and bubbly. Seriously, how old is that girl? In Carmilla’s 25 years of life, she has never met someone like Laura.

Last night though, she saw the dirty-blonde girl sitting up from her bed, looking lost and lonely. She stayed like that for a while, not moving and looking only at the wall. Carmilla thought she was about to sleep walk but clearly, Laura’s awake by that time. Laura probably thought that she’s asleep. She lied back down and Carmilla actually heard a sob, she’s sure of it.

Come to think of it, whenever Laura thinks she’s alone, she seems so distant. It’s as if she’s lost in her thoughts.

Ginger One is her best friend right? “Say, about Laura.” Carmilla begins, catching Perry’s attention. “Is she alright? Not that it’s my business or anything.” She says.

“Laura? Why, I think she is. I mean, why would she not be?” Perry replies, looking at Carmilla curiously.

_She doesn’t know anything._ Carmilla shakes her head. “Ah, nothing. Just, you know, wondering.” She shrugs and looks back at the kids.

“Right.” Perry nods, still wondering why Carmilla inquired about Laura like that.

“Carmilla?” It’s Shaira again. Carmilla turns to her, actually relieved that she cut off her conversation with Perry. “We made you one too!”

The brunette eyes the flower crown in the tiny kid’s hand. _At least she got to do it right now._ She and her best friend are looking at her excitedly and actually, she may not have the heart to say no to them. That, or maybe just because Perry is watching. Carmilla gestures that they hand it over to her but they shake their heads.

“We’ll put it on you!” Sherilyn says, smiling.

_Oh for the love of all things black,_ Carmilla groans, crouching down and bowing her head. The two kids place the flower crown on her and smiles when they’re done. “Happy?” Carmilla asks them. The two kids giggle and start talking about some sort of anime, if Carmilla heard them correctly.

She stands up and looks at Perry who is smiling at her. “The kids seem to like you, dear.”

It takes effort not to roll her eyes. Instead, she lets out another groan which Perry laughs at. Great, now _Princess Merida_ over here thinks she’s a softie.

The activity went on about for another 15 minutes. Carmilla completely forgets about the flower crown on her head and walks around the camp wearing it until a girl shouts ‘ _Nice flower crown!’_ at her. She grunts and walks her way to the cabin, stomping on the ground after giving the girl who shouted at her a glare.

\---

Laura figures that maybe drunk calling Hester isn’t such a bad idea. Not that she intended that. Kids are fun to be with especially if they’re this cute. She’s actually glad that she’s assigned to the kids for her first week of duty. She doubts she has the same liking for teenagers.

There are two girls at the end of the classroom who refuses to participate in the mug designing activity and her partner for that period, Betty, isn’t really doing a great job with convincing them. She gives up after a few more minutes, letting the two girls – Diane and Gladys – talk to each other while drawing on a paper that Betty has provided. Laura smiles at her as if saying ‘you did your best’.

“You’d wonder why they signed up for this if they’re not even interested in the first place.” Betty sighs when she reaches Laura.

Laura nod and smiles. “Maybe they’re just both shy to join everyone else? I remembered how scared I was to talk to other kids when I was still in camp.” She chuckles.

Betty smiles fondly at her. “I guess you’re right.” She nods. “You’re the childhood friend LaFontaine and Perry are talking about, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Nice,” She says, crossing her arms. “I’ve heard interesting stories about you three from Hester.” Betty chuckles. “Like that time Perry fell on the lake and to make sure she doesn’t embarrass herself from being the only one going back to camp wet, you and LaFontaine jumped in the lake with her.”

Laura smiles fondly at the memory. “I’m pretty sure Perry would do the same if either I or LaFontaine fell in the lake that time.” She tells Betty. “Gosh, I hope Hester didn’t say anything embarrassing. You know kids - Shenanigans and all that.” Laura laughs.

Betty’s nice. She’s patient with the kids and eventually, Gladys and Diane joined the group activity, thanks to her. Laura is also painting her own mug, actually having fun. Some kids would ask her questions like ‘are their mugs pretty’ or ‘if they can mix colors’ but it’s a pretty chill activity, in Laura’s opinion. First week activities are usually inside the activity cabins so Laura’s figures nothing too ‘eventful’ will happen.

In the midst of Laura looking after the kids, she suddenly thinks about Carmilla. The brunette said before they left the cabins earlier that she’s with Perry on her first duty. She wonders how that’s going.

_Poor kids and Perry, having to deal with Carmilla’s snarky remarks_ , Laura thinks, shaking her head while smiling.

“And what’s that smile about, if you don’t mind me asking?” Betty asks, sitting down beside her.

“My roommate, probably being Camp Silas’ worst counselor in history.” She tells Betty who raises an eyebrow. “She hates kids and I really have no idea why she’s here. I heard she has a schedule with Perry at this very moment. Her sarcasm should be enough to drive poor Perry crazy.”

“Uh-huh… But she’s enough to put a smile on your face.” The blonde teases.

Laura raises her eyebrow, trying to stop herself from smiling. “What? I’m not smiling.”

“Come talk to me when you’re done denying, girl.” Betty punches her arm gently.

“Oh please, if you knew her, you’d be laughing as well.”

“Really, what’s she like?”

There’s a pause and Laura thinks for a second. “Well, she’s rude at times, for one. She takes so long in the shower, it’s ridiculous. Her replies are composed of 80% sarcasm. She likes to give people nicknames and somehow, refuses to call people by their real names.”

“Oh, wow,” Betty muses, looking impressed. “Must be some hell of a roommate huh?”

“You have no idea.”

Despite how exasperated Laura’s tone was, she is actually glad that Carmilla’s her roommate. For some odd reason – a reason that she doesn’t really know what – she’s the only one Carmilla seems to put up with. During last night’s dinner, the brunette immediately sat on her side as soon as she got to the mess hall. She didn’t talk to anyone too except Laura who was happy enough that Carmilla agreed to be her friend.

Laura and Betty spend the remaining time left by helping the kids put their mugs someplace where it can dry while talking about practically anything they can think of.

\---

The mess hall is really noisy and LaFontaine can’t help but laugh at how Carmilla is looking her mac and cheese, stabbing the macaronis one at a time with her fork. Laura pats Carmilla’s head and the brunette rolls her eyes and eats her food.

They’re really surprised with the progress that the two had acquired in just a couple of days. The broody girl has a soft spot but only for Laura, it seems. They’re not really surprised about that one.

Laura Hollis has that effect on people.

Shaking they’re head, LaFontaine walks over to the table where Laura, Kirsch, Perry and Carmilla is sitting, carrying a bowl of mac and cheese. “Seconds?” They ask.

Kirsch lightens up and nods. They sit down next to Perry who smiles at them. Laura looks at them and smiles as well. Carmilla doesn’t seem to be paying attention, her focus now diverted to Laura who begins to talk animatedly about the kids who did so well with the mug paintings.

“You really should see that one mug that has a painting of a pug on it. Betty and I were really impressed with that kid.” Laura says. “By the way Perry, how was your duty?”

“Quite good actually. The kids are all nice and two girls seem to have developed a liking towards Carmilla.” Perry tells them.

LaFontaine grins and looks at Carmilla who sighs. They did hear about Carmilla walking out of the cabin with the flower crown on from Perry. “I heard the two girls were really happy that you liked the crown so much, you didn’t bother taking it off.”

Carmilla finally raises her head to look at LaFontaine who is chuckling at the brunette’s reaction. “Shut it, ginger two.” She grumbles.

“I’m actually surprised you made it this far. I thought Perry would kick you out of the camp after one activity.” Laura teases, laughing before eating a spoonful of mac and cheese.

“Oh you’d like that, won’t you cupcake?”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

The exchange between the two girls is quite amusing because it borders from friends casually talking to subtle flirting. The only concern they have about this is that ‘ _didn’t Hester mention something about Laura having a girlfriend?’_ They glance over to Perry who is looking at Laura with concern. Clearly, they’re thinking about the same thing.

When LaFontaine was teasing them yesterday, they only meant it as a joke. They never thought that Laura might actually like the girl especially since she had a girlfriend. Clearly she’s interested.

“Carmilla,”

“Cupcake,”

“See my point? You never call me by my name.”

Carmilla rolls her eyes. “I never call anyone by their name.”

Laura gently nudges Carmilla on the side. Carmilla glares at her but for someone on the receiving end of that death glare, the dirty-blonde didn’t seem to be fazed by it. Instead, she sticks her tongue out and LaFontaine does not miss the tightening of the brunette’s jaw, unmistakably hiding her smile. Looks like Laura’s not the only one who is interested. _Yikes._

Perry clears her throat causing the two to pay attention to her – mostly Laura because Carmilla only resumes picking on her food before eating. “So, what activity are you assigned to later, Laura?” Perry inquires.

“If I remember right, clay sculpting.” Laura mumbles, thinking hard. “Yeah, that’s it.”

“Well isn’t that nice?” Carmilla says; a small smile on her face. “That happens to be mine as well.”

LaFontaine swears they can hear Perry practically screaming on the inside. Meanwhile, Kirsch tells the two that they’re lucky and starts complaining about how he doesn’t have an assignment with any of his bros today or for the whole week, actually.

“Tough luck, man-child.” Carmilla drawls out and again, Laura nudges her. “What?”

“You’re rude.” Laura says.

Kirsch laughs. “S’okay, little hottie.”

“See? Not rude if he’s okay with it, creampuff.” Carmilla chews on her food. “Don’t call her hottie, puppy.”

Laura shakes her head, giving up on lecturing Carmilla about her habit of calling others by nicknames she decided to give them.

But then again, maybe they’re seeing so much into it? Laura and Carmilla does seem really close but maybe, that’s all there is to it? LaFontaine looks at Perry and places their hand on hers which is on Perry’s thigh. They rubbed small circles on her hand with their thumb. Perry looks at them appreciatively, giving them a warm smile that just made their heart beat faster, ready to jump out of their chest.

_(The things Perry do to them…)_

\---

Carmilla and Laura make their way to the cabin for the clay sculpting activity. Carmilla absentmindedly picks on a thread from her camp shirt. While Laura counts the kids on the list. They’re walking so close to each other that their arms touch and shoulders bump occasionally but neither of them seem to mind.

Groaning, Carmilla lets go of the thread, making a mental note that she needs cut the loose thread later. She hates it when that happens.

“You know, I’m really surprised you got kids to like you when all you do is scowl and groan and brood.” Laura starts, putting the list down and looking at her.

She chuckles. “I have that effect on people, sundance. I mean, look at you.” Carmilla eyes her, smirking. “You tell me how rude I am and how all I do are those things you just said but here you are, still glued to me like a magnet.”

Laura blushes, and she has probably noticed how close to each other they are and moves away slightly. Carmilla chuckles once again and Laura glares at her. “I swear you can be so frustrating.” She mumbles.

“Hey, we’re _friends_ right? That’s part of the package. Take it or leave it.”

Laughing, Laura slaps Carmilla’s arm softly, shaking her head. “I guess I’ll take it.”

Of course, Laura’s is on her counselor-mode the moment she steps inside the cabin. She starts with a roll call, making sure all the kids are present.

Laura begins explaining what to do to the kids who are pretty excited to play with the clay. Carmilla rolls her eyes when Laura asks her to join her in demonstrating how to sculpt from the clay. No way she’ll get her nails dirty.

“I’m beginning to think the other counselors must have been blind if they’re not complaining about you doing nothing.” Laura says, walking up to her.

Carmilla smirks, as she roams around the cabin, watching the kids. Laura is following her closely behind. “Or, you know, maybe I’m just not doing my job because I’m having fun watching you work.” She says, shrugging.

She takes a mental note that Laura would blush at any kind of flirting. _Flirting…_ Carmilla questions herself about that. Why is she flirting? Sure, the girl is fun to be with _(though she will never say that out loud)_ and seems to be really caring and nice; Carmilla just doesn’t want to mess around with this girl. She shakes her head and looks at Laura.

The tiny girl is smiling as she watches the kids play with their clays. Carmilla doesn’t know why but she feels relief just by seeing the smile on Laura’s face. She most definitely does not want to see Laura with the expression she wore last night. While Carmilla didn’t entirely see what she looked like, Laura’s body language just seemed to be shouting sadness.

“I’m going to regret this.” Carmilla starts, heaving out a sigh. “If you ever need to talk to someone, I can lend my ears for a few minutes.”

The dirty-blonde’s head turns to her in confusion but she shrugs, ignoring the way Laura raises an eyebrow at her. “Are you actually trying to be kind to me?”

“Forget I said anything.”

Laura laughs at her reply and Carmilla’s heart might have just skipped a beat _(‘you’re not supposed to be doing that, you involuntary muscle’)._  “I won’t.” Laura tells her. “Thanks, Carm.”

Carmilla stays quiet for a while, just looking at the kids who kept throwing small balls of clay at each other. Carmilla scowls at them when they looked her way. “Actually,” Laura suddenly says, taking a deep breath.

The door to the cabin opens and in comes a tall blonde who smiles at Laura. The kids all turn their attention towards the door and Carmilla scoffs. Seriously, the attention span of the new generation is incredibly short that Carmilla finds it ridiculous. “Laura, I’m on the attendance duty today.” The blonde says.

“Betty, hi!” Laura excuses herself before walking towards the woman, _Betty._ The smaller girl hands the attendance sheet to Betty before she says something which seems to embarrass her because she doing that fiddling with her fingers thing that she does when she’s embarrassed or nervous. Carmilla groans because _since when did she pay attention to people?_ She frowns when Betty glances at her then back at Laura after the dirty-blonde swats her arm softly. The two of them laugh before Betty bids her farewell. She waves at Carmilla too who nods her way.

“Ah, by the way Laura.” Betty stops Laura from closing the cabin’s door. “I’ve got some letters for you. Someone’s popular.”

Laura rolls her eyes, giggling and shoos Betty away after she hands the letter to her.

Carmilla realizes that rather than watching the kids, she’s watching Laura instead. From the exciting look, her face falls immediately after seeing the letters.

She seems exasperated because she sits down with the kids, settling down the letters on the desk. She tries to smile at Carmilla before focusing on the clays that the kids are showing her.

Everything would probably be alright, if only this kid with glasses, Kevin, didn’t become curious about the said letters. Carmilla is about to stop him but he is fast with his hands and he got the letters. Turns out he's just moving them away from his work area. A few of the letters fall on the floor and the other kids picks it up.

Laura looks horrified when she notices that the kids have been reading the letters. “Kids, give it back.” Laura says, her tone almost sounding like when she’s annoyed with Carmilla.

“Aww, love letters!” One kid coos and Carmilla frowns. Okay, she should butt in and stop the kids already because this is kind of getting out of hand.

“Stop, give those back.” Laura warns. “Girls…”

Carmilla walks around the table and gets a few of the letters on the ground. She’s so tempted to look at them but hey, since when did she start snooping around other people’s businesses? Laura’s too busy trying to grab some from the kids to notice her crouching down to get a few more that falls from one of the kids’ hand. How many letters did Laura’s _\- whatever that person is to Laura_ \- send?

“Must be nice having someone write you love letters.”

“I thought that only happens in fairytales.”

“No one uses love letters in fairytales, dummy.”

“It says Danny!”

Laura flinches at the sound of the name. That can’t be good, Carmilla thinks. The chanting of the ever-so-childish ‘ _Laura and Danny kissing on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G’_ starts.

The kids are laughing as Laura frantically tries to get all of the letters. Carmilla groans. This isn’t really her business but maybe she should use her usual ‘I’ll feed you your spleens’ line. She opens her mouth to begin talking but Laura slams a hand on the table.

“Love letters?” She snarls. “Fairytales?” Tears are already forming from her eyes and Carmilla takes the opportunity to take the letters, glaring at the kids who held them. “There wasn’t any tree! And, yeah, there’s definitely the K-I-S-S-I-N-G-ing.” She bites her lip for a second. “But not with me!”

Okay, woah. Carmilla walks over to her and holds her by the wrist and placing a hand on her back. _How domestic…_ Carmilla thinks to herself but she shoves the thought at the far end of her mind. “Cupcake…” She tries to calm her down.

“But that’s okay because, you know what kids? I’m here to tell you the truth. Love? It sucks! It doesn’t exist!” Laura shouts and Carmilla tries to pull her away. “It is a concept made to romanticize flowers and jewelries and chocolates and cruise ships! Because when you think that you found love, it’s going to smack you in the face when everything comes tumbling down and you’re gonna realize that you’ve wasted so much time and effort because you’ve lost to a girl with really nice hair and-“

The door suddenly opens and Perry peaks inside. “Hey, Laura?” She says, looking around the room and raising an eyebrow. “Can I speak to you for a second?”

Laura seems to realize what she’s doing and finally calms down. She looks at Carmilla for a second before looking down. Carmilla swears she sees the girl’s embarrassment just by looking at her deflating figure. “And that is why I love clay molding. I’ll just-“ She doesn’t even bother finishing her sentence. Laura heads to the door, out of Carmilla’s grasp.

The room is quiet as soon as the door closes. Carmilla glares at the kids. “Great job, little minions. You just made someone cry. You all must be happy and proud.” Carmilla smirks at the kids’ expressions. _Yes, wallow yourselves in guilt you, little devils._ “Now, anyone who has Counselor Laura’s letter, give it here. If anyone keeps a letter, I’ll make sure Counselor LaFontaine puts hot sauce on your food later at dinner.”

The kids look alarmed at this and they stand up one by one, giving the letters to Carmilla.

She feels bad for Laura and these kids probably are too, especially since they’re all looking down on their laps, looking ashamed. Carmilla sighs. “Okay, you horrible minions. Clay sculpting time is over. You wanna make up with Counselor Laura?” They nod. “I’m getting some crayons and papers. You will all be adults and write an apology letter to her.” Carmilla walks over to the supply closet at the back of the room and grabs the crayons and papers. She settles it on the table where the kids are working earlier and look at them all with a glare. “Now start writing.”

Carmilla watches them as they write whatever they want to say to Laura as an apology. She sighs, looking at a different batch of letters – the one from Laura’s lover/ex-lover – and sigh. She doesn’t read any of it but only looks at the name of the sender.

That’s commonly a guy’s name, right?

So she’s straight then?

Carmilla groans and leans back on the wall. “Damn.” She mutters to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an unbeta'd fanfiction and I wasn't able to proofread this so, I'm sorry for any grammar or spelling or whatever mistake there is. And I hope to hear from you about what you think about the fanfiction so far. Thanks and have a nice day/night!


	6. I owe the stars up in the sky a lot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6 or the one where Carmilla is a worrywart and Kirsch's bro and Laura's ride home and all sorts of other things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I said I'd get back to schedule but this took way longer to finish than I planned. Turns out my professors are aiming to kill me before the end of this semester (not really but I'm beginning to think that that's the goal).

It’s been hours since Carmilla has last seen Laura and as much as she hates to admit it, she’s worried. Carmilla groans, holding two sets of letters in her hand. One, the children’s apology letters for Laura. The other set is the ones from that Danny.

Carmilla groans to herself. Since when did she actually start caring for people?

She places both the letters inside her drawer. She will give them to Laura later. For now, she needs a nap from all the stress that she had to deal with earlier. It’s already bad enough that she’d not that good with the kids but dealing with the little rascals alone? That’s almost a recipe for disaster. Carmilla swears that if she wasn’t able to get a hold of herself earlier, she’s pretty sure she was going to throw a boy out the window for making farting noises while the other kids were making letters for Laura.

That aside, the kids were pretty apologetic so she just went with it and ignored the annoying kid. Probably thinks he’s cool. _Whatever._ Carmilla sighs and slumps down her bed. It’s almost time for dinner but she just doesn’t feel like it. She walks over their mini-fridge and sees Laura’s stock of choco chips cookies which the tiny girl inhales almost every night. Carmilla gets two then slumps on her bed once again.

She’s been reading Cathedral by Raymond Carver for a good measure of time and she’s surprised that when she looks at her phone to check the time, it’s already 9 PM.

Odd. Laura’s usually in the cabin by 8 PM.

Carmilla frowns because, seriously, where the frilly hell is that girl? Maybe she’s with Perry or LaFontaine or that tall girl earlier, _what’s her name?_ Betsy? Betty? Barry? _Whatever._

Then again, maybe she went on a walk and fell in the lake or something terrible like she got eaten by a bear or got lost and is now running for her life, trying to defend herself from bees?

 _Carmilla Karnstein, since when did you become such a worrywart?_ She asks herself. That is most certainly not good. She rolls her eyes and gets up, getting another cookie from Laura’s stash (she’s sure the tiny human will be mad about her eating the cookies without her knowledge). Maybe she should write an apology letter about it later?

The brunette grabs her jacket and puts on her sneakers to look for Laura outside. Hopefully, the girl is just somewhere in the camp and not in the woods because she is going to be pissed if someone will barge in their cabin saying that she has a new roommate. Laura, so far, is the only tolerable one for Carmilla.

At least, that’s what she tells herself.

 _The girl is straight, Carmilla._ She reminds herself.

 

\---

By the time Laura stops crying, Perry is coming back from the mess hall, bringing her dinner. “Hey dear.” She says quietly. She sits down beside Laura on the couch.

Laura appreciates the fact that she hasn’t asked any questions yet. Even LaFontaine seems to be refraining from inquiring about what her deal is. She’s embarrassed, to say the least.

She broke down in front of the kids and Carmilla. She’s pretty sure she has a lot of explaining to do. Heaving a sigh, Laura takes in the appearance of Perry and LaFontaine’s cabin. It’s just like how she imagined it. Clean and tidy.

"I'm really sorry about what happened, Perr." Laura starts, bowing her head.

Perry looks at her with concern. "What did happen Laura?" She asks.

LaFontaine enters the cabin, smiling slightly at the two of them. They sit next to Laura who is tearing up once again. Perry places a hand on her back, rubbing comforting circles on it.

"I was drunk the night I called Hester." Laura begins, tears already streaming from her eyes. "I drank because after working so damn hard for three years in Styria Publishing and finally getting our publisher to read the book I made, I got fired because of a mistake that's not even my fault. And then," Laura stops, wiping her tears, frustrated how it still hurts to talk about this. "I come home, trying to find comfort in my girlfriend but I find her with another girl instead."

"Oh Laura." Perry pulls her into a hug, LaFontaine continuing to pat her back. "Shh, you're okay, dear. You're strong. You'll get through this." Perry says.

"We got your back L." LaFontaine adds. Perry smiles a bit at them.

Laura stays in Perry's arm for a good measure of time before pulling away from her. She smiles at the two of them, holding both their hands. "Thank you, you two. I'm really glad I called Hester that night."

LaFontaine laughs. "I do remember Hester telling us that you sounded weird during that phone call."

"Why didn't you just tell us though?" Perry asks.

Laura bites her lower lip and looks down on her lap while she retracts her hands from her friends. "I-I was embarrassed." She whispers.

"Yeah well, that's not really embarrassing L. You said so yourself. It wasn't your fault." LaFontaine punches their friend's arm gently. "What's embarrassing was the fact that you wet your pyjamas until you were twelve."

At the sight of Laura reddening, they smile but Perry's eyes widening in horror makes them laugh so hard. "LaF!" Laura slaps them by the arm.

"Okay, ouch." LaFontaine smirks. "You know what, let's sneak in the staff cabin's kitchen when Hester's asleep already then we'll drink some beers there and have some fun. Kind of our nightouts before but with alcohol." They suggest.

Laura looks at them then at Perry who seem to be contemplating whether that is a good idea. "Okay, fine. But just this one time, alright?"

LaFontaine beams and Laura laughs. She's feeling slightly better thanks to her best friends. She'll be alright. She'll definitely be alright.

\---

Carmilla sighs as she sits on the stairs to Perry and LaFontaine's cabin. It's the first and last place she thought of and she will be damned if she doesn't find Laura there.

She's damned.

Laura's not there. Even the ginger twins aren't which makes it safe to assume that they are with Laura.

Or maybe not? What if they're just making rounds and Laura's just lost? Well, that's unlikely since Perry was the one who pulled Laura out of the room. Surely they're together right now, right?

But...

Carmilla groans. Caring for a naive, entirely too tightly wound girl is a pain. Why is she even worried? She met the girl, what, a week ago? This isn't in the job description but there she is, looking like a dumb puppy.

"'Sup angry hottie?"

The brunette jumps at the sound of a guy's voice. She turns to her left to see Wilson Kirsch, in his camp staff hoodie, looking at her with a confused expression. "Don't you dare do that to me again, Paul Bunyan."

"Sorry, didn't know you were jumpy."

Carmilla growls at him. "I am not jumpy, beefcake." She retorts but Kirsch only smirks, infuriating her more. "You know what, I'm going since you obviously exist in this same century to annoy the living hell out of me." She scoffs, walking back to her and Laura's cabin. She hears footsteps behind her and assumes that Kirsch is following her. _What a puppy._

"C'mon, Carm-sexy. I was just trying to be friendly." Kirsch says.

"I swear to god, I will hurt you if you don't stop calling me by those really sexist terms." Carmilla continues to walk back to her cabin but she figures that Kirsch isn't going to stop bugging her. "What do you want, manchild?" She asks.

"I'm on patrol tonight and I just want to accompany you back to your cabin. You know, an escort but a dude. A dudescort." Kirsch sounds so proud of himself that Carmilla rolls her eyes.

Come to think of it, if he's on patrol tonight then... "Okay puppy, since you feel like being helpful tonight, have you seen Laura?"

"Laura as in nerd hottie?" Carmilla stops walking and turns to glare at him. "Okay, little nerd, there." He says, raising his hands up to his chest. The brunette finds this funny because honestly, he could tower over her and he's still acting like she's the bigger one.

"Yeah, her. You know, Laura - short girl with honey brown colored hair, eyes huge as plates and the energy of a five year old given loads of sugar? That Laura."

"I saw her earlier exiting LaF and Perry's cabin. I think the two followed her after but I'm not so sure." Kirsch replies then rubs his chin. "She's heading towards the staff cabin, probab-hey!" Carmilla is already heading towards the staff cabin even before Kirsch could finish his sentence.

Again, Carmilla finds herself being trailed after by Kirsch. "I can take care of myself you know. You can go back to your patrol or whatever." Carmilla grumbles, walking towards the staff cabin which is all the way back to the front of the camp and it's quite a long way from where she is right now.

Kirsch scoffs. "I know but it's not gonna hurt you if I accompany you, right? Besides, it's pretty boring walking around all alone."

"Scared?" Carmilla smirks.

The guy blows out air through his lips, creating a 'pfff' sound before chuckling. "You wish." Carmilla raises an eyebrow at him and he groans, ignoring her. "So, what's up with you lookin for the little nerd? Had a fight?" He asks which makes Carmilla roll her eyes once again. "Babes shouldn't fight."

"I'd hate to burst your bubble, mutt but, we're not and it's not really my story to tell."

Kirsch stays quiet for a few seconds and Carmilla glances at him in curiosity. She regrets it immediately as she sees him smiling down at her. "I see how it is." He grins.

"I fail to see what you see, manchild." She scoffs before looking away, tucking her hands inside her pockets.

"Uh-huh..." It's the 'I-know-something' tone that Carmilla absolutely hates.

Carmilla chooses not to say anything just in case Kirsch decides to use it against her. Maybe the overgrown kid will stop his delusional thoughts.

"Laura must be one hell of a babe if she's got you worried." Kirsch says and Carmilla rubs her face with her hand, not knowing whether this us all worth it. Talking to Kirsch is extremely exhausting because so far, all he does is pry. "Don't get me wrong or anything but you've been so stern to everyone in camp except her."

"Oh, so you got me figured out huh?" Carmilla says then glares at him. She meant to sound sarcastic but it came out more angry than her intention.

"Not really but, just sayin' that if you ever need a bro besides little nerd, you can count on me. I think you're cool."

Carmilla blinks at him repeatedly, trying to figure out what's going on in this huge guy's head. "Is this your method of making friends because I think you've noticed already that I'm not the most sociable person around here and this is very much weird in my opinion." She says and he laughs. "Or please tell me you're not hitting on me because I don't swing that way."

"Woah, no bro, just no!" Kirsch shakes his head and Carmilla doesn't know whether she should be insulted at how he seemed so disgusted at the thought. "Dude, you're like, shouting 'lady-lover' when I first saw you. You kinda have that aura, if you'd call it that? You kind of remind me of my sister."

Carmilla scoffs, chuckling. "Well, at least you can tell." She shrugs. "You know what? You're okay." She looks at him and he's giving her a goofy smile and he looks really happy that she's afraid he's going to pick her up and swing her around. "Well this is too much bonding and I'm afraid I'm about to puke."

Kirsch chuckles.

\---

Laura can't remember the last time she has enjoyed her friends' company. It's been quite some time since the three of them bonded. The last time was before they entered second year college and that was how many years ago, Laura can't even tell.

LaFontaine is currently laughing at some story Perry is telling about how Laura thought that the lochness monster lived in the Silas lake along the camp which made her cry the first time they got near it. Laura laughs as well.

She's so glad that her friends are here for her. It's kind of making her feel guilty because she's never been there for them the past few years and now she comes back, imposing them to her problem but they're still giving her their support.

They've drank quite the number of beers already and surprisingly, the most tipsy one of the three of them is LaFontaine. Laura notices that the moists from the beers is making a huge puddle on the table so she gets up and tries to find a rag somewhere in the kitchen. She stands up, holding her beer and wobbly walks towards the cabinets.

"L? What’s up?" LaFontaine slurs.

"Be right back in a sec."

LaF shrugs and looks at Perry, smiling. Laura looks at them and wonders if LaFontaine is the kind of person who spills all their secrets when drunk. She wonders if they will confess to Perry in their drunken state. Gosh she hopes not because she's pretty sure they wouldn't want that to be how they tell Perry about their feelings for her.

Laura opens a drawer and sees something that catches her eye. It's a letter with the seal of the National Science Institute. Of course Laura would recognize the seal. She once handled the letters and e-mails for Styria Publishing and the National Science Institute would always send something new for a science magazine that they're publishing.

Why is there a letter from the institute here then? Laura takes a look at the letter.

_Letter of acceptance_

_To: S. LaFontaine_

They got accepted to the institute? Come to think of it, LaFontaine always loved science. But then, why are they staying here? She tucks the letter back in the drawer of the cabinet. That's not really her business but maybe she'll talk about it with LaF. Maybe.

\---

They finally reach the cabin and hear LaFontaine's slurred singing. Carmilla and Kirsch shares a glance at each other before approaching the door which is locked. They try knocking but nobody seems to be hearing it. Suddenly, a loud thud, followed by gasps, is heard from the inside. Carmilla knocks again but still, no response.

"Let's try the backdoor?" Kirsch suggests.

Carmilla follows Kirsch around the cabin and sees him twisting the knob. It opens. As they finally step inside, the sight of Laura smashing a bottle of beer on the counter of what seemed to be the kitchen welcomes them. "I know Krav Maga and I'm not going to hesitate o- Carm?"

"Laura, what was that?" Perry comes running towards the kitchen, a bit flustered.

Carmilla raises an eyebrow and looks around. She sees LaFontaine on the floor, unconscious. And then, she notices the bottles of bear on the table.

"Woah, a party without us? Not cool bros." Kirsch shakes his head in disappointment.

The brunette rolls her eyes at Kirsch then looks at Laura who is now glancing at the broken bottle in her hand. "You should let go of that, creampuff."

Laura settles it on the counter. "Sorry." She mumbles, wobbling away from the shards of broken glass from the bottle. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, its almost mignight and my roommate is nowhere to be found so, I decided to go on a search and rescue with the puppy." She points over to Kirsch who scowls at her.

Laura grimaces. "I don't need rescuing. I can take care of myself." She slurs.

"Of course you can, creampuff." Carmilla says and Laura nods appreciatively at the fact that Carmilla sounded sincere. "So, Pippi Longstocking, I think party's over and you might want to clean up here?"

"Sorry Perr. I just got startled by the backdoor suddenly opening. I thought someone broke in." Laura grumbles, scratching her head.

The redhead smiles at Laura in understanding. "Don't worry about me here. Kirsch, why don't you help LaFontaine up and Carmilla can help Laura?" She suggests.

"Right." Kirsch nods, saluting Perry before walking over to LaFontaine. Surely the thud must have come from them.

Laura flashes a small smile at Perry and mumbles a _thank you_ before turning to Carmilla. Laura shyly looks at Carmilla who steps over the shards, standing in front of her.

Normally, Carmilla would have shrugged and left when someone asks her to help out but she can't really abandon Laura. The dirty-blonde didn't seem to be bulging from where she's standing so Carmilla sighs, crouching down in front of Laura, her back facing her roommate. "C'mon cupcake, hop on. Let's head back."

"But Carm-"

"We'll get back to the cabin faster this way."

"But-"

"Cupcake, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Do you think I go around, offerinng piggyback rides to anyone?"

The tiny girl giggles; she seems to have gotten over her embarrassment from what happened earlier and the hesitance to let Carmilla help her. She leans on Carmilla, her chest pressed against Carmilla's back as she wraps her arms around the brunette's neck. Carmilla then places both her hands behind Laura's knees and stands up, steadying herself.

A burst of laughter rings in Carmilla's ear. "Glad to see that at least one of us is enjoying."

Carmilla nods at Kirsch and Perry before heading out of the staff cabin.

It's a silent walk back to the cabin. Laura's not that heavy, thank goodness. It is a pretty long walk back. The path is only illuminated by the moon and the small lamps that appear once every few meters.

"Why'd you look for me?" Laura whispers, her face buried on the junction between Carmilla's shoulder and neck.

Carmilla glances at the girl only to see the top of her head  "I had nothing to do and," Carmilla pauses. What the hell has this girl done to her? "Nothing."

"Were you actually worried for me?"

 _Yes._ "No."

Laura lets out a sort of whimper and Carmilla wonders if she's just that drunk or if she's really disappointed that she's not worried for her. "Okay, maybe a little-"

The tiny girl squeals and laughs. "I knew you're a softy, Carm!"

"Don't make me regret this, creampuff." Carmilla warns and the blonde stops her squealing but giggles behind her. "You're a child." She rolls her eyes.

Silence dawns on them again. Carmilla looks up the stars. They're a lot brighter and much easier to see here than in the city. She feels Laura turning her head to look at her then up the sky. "Wow." Laura inhales. "I never got the chance to look at the stars again since I came back here." Laura mumbles. "I almost forgot how amazing they are."

"It's comforting." Carmilla says. "To think how small we are in comparison. All the lives we've led, people we've been. Nothing to that light." Carmilla says, sounding melancholic.

Laura hums briefly, nuzzling her cold nose against Carmilla's neck which makes Carmilla stiff in surprise for a second. "Have you always been this deep?"

"If we're talking about the right things, maybe."

"And I take it that the stars are one of those right things?"

Carmilla sighs and nods. "I owe the stars up in the sky a lot."

\---

Laura doesn't try to contemplate the meaning behind Carmilla's words because she's drunk and her head really feels like it's spinning. She unconsciously buries her further into Carmilla's neck because her nose really is cold.

"Carm?"

"Cupcake."

Laura frowns because _my birth certificate says may name is Laura and not any kind of pastry._ Carmilla chuckles. "I said that out loud didn't I?"

"No. I can read minds."

She considers this for a few seconds, thinking about all the circumstances that might be a proof of her being a mind reader. It is until Carmilla starts laughing that Laura slaps Carmilla's arm lightly. "Don't mess around with me." She has to admit though, Carmilla's laugh is beautiful.

Once again, silence. _Girl the hell up, Hollis._ She tries to open her mouth but nothing comes out. What's keeping her from saying those two words anyway? This is ridiculous.

Carmilla saw her outburst and she was thinking that it'll be embarrassing if she sees Carmilla because she was so sure that the brunette will poke fun at her.

She has never been so wrong in her life. Here is Carmilla, carrying her like a child back to their dorm because she was worried for her. Plus, not once had Carmilla asked about the outburst incident earlier which she's really grateful for.

All in all, she shouldn't have judged Carmilla. There are still tons of things she doesn't know about this girl.

Before Laura even realize it, they are already on the doorstep of their cabin. Carmilla crouches down and she gets off of her. For some reason, Carmilla slings her arm around Laura's waist, keeping close to her. Laura's sense of balance isn't back to her yet which makes her nearly fall forward but Carmilla pulls her back while attempting to fish out the keys from her pocket. She seems so used to doing this that Laura finds it amusing.

Also, she has another reason to thank Carmilla. After all she would've face-planted on the door if Carmilla isn't holding her steady.

Carmilla finally got the key from her pocket. She slips the key into the keyhole and twists it open. She steps sideways, still with her arm around Laura's waist and carefully walks inside, using her foot to kick the door close when they're in. She helps Laura to her bed.

"Okay, just wait here, sweetheart."

Laura unconsciously smiles. She may have a little bit of annoyance becausebof the pet names that Carmilla calls her but she actually likes how affectionate Carmilla can sound when she calls her those names. She sits up the bed, feeling less spinning and more contracting.

The brunette comes back with a glass of water in hand. "Drink this." She hands her the glass and Laura obeys, drinking the water. As soon as she finishes, Carmilla takes the glass from her and places it in the sink.

Laura watches Carmilla as she moves around the places. The girl gets something from the drawers and Laura's pulse quickens at the sight of what she's holding. "I didn't read any of them, just so you know." Carmilla starts. "So, would you want to have them or-"

"Please throw them away." Laura quickly says.

Carmilla nods. She places the letters on top of the drawer before getting another set of letters. Laura eyes her in confusion. Did Danny send a new batch of letters or - "Uh, you might want to read this, creampuff." She hands her the letters. "Let's just say the kids are sorry."

Laura looks down at the letters and thank goodness she's not that drunk because some of the handwritings are awful.

_I'm sorry I took yur leters Miss Loora._

_Please dont cry. Sorry._

_I m sorry. I dint mean to hurt your feelings._

_I didnot get any of yur letters but the one girl with the angry face made me_

Laura bursts out laughing at the last one. "Oh my gosh." She clutches her stomach. "Thank you so much, Carm." And the words were out before she can even think.

Laura looks at Carmilla who smiles a bit at her. "No problem, creampuff." She nods before walking to her bed and discarding her shoes. She takes off her shirt - okay, woah. Laura looks away as she kicks off her shoes. Laura looks up slightly only to see that Carmilla has changed into her tanktop. Laura settles the letters on top of the side table and lies down. She catches Carmilla looking at her before walking to the light switch and turning the lights off.

Laura hears rustling and assumes that Carmilla has lied down on her bed. "Uh, thanks for taking care of me Carm. And for not reading the letters." Laura says.

When Carmilla doesn't respond, Laura thinks that the brunette has fallen asleep. She turns to her side, facing the wall.

"Don't mention it." Carmilla mumbles. "And I did catch the name of your boyfriend but that's about it."

 _Boyfriend?_ Laura laughs. "Danny was a girlfriend, actually." She sighs.

"Really?" Carmilla asks and Laura doesn't know why but the question sounded lively. Maybe it’s just her imagination.

"Really." She replies. "I was having the worst day by then. I got fired from work because of some _technology mishandling._ And then I came home to my girlfriend only to find another girl with her." For some reason, it's easier to talk about this with Carmilla.

"Huh..." The other girl mumbles. "So you ran off here?"

"Kind of." Laura answers. "Sorry, I'm suddenly pouring my hearts out to you."

There's a long silence again and Laura wonders if Carmilla really drifted off to sleep this time. "I know the feeling." She says out of the blue. "Her name was Ell and, well, let's just say I wasn't enough, I guess."

 _Oh._ "Guess we're on the same boat then."

"And also playing for the same team."

Laura giggles at the implication. "Yeah."

She hears the girl opposite her chuckling and Laura can't help but smile. "Well, now that this pity party is over and we’ve had a pretty good talk, if you don't mind, I'm feeling quite sleepy for once, creampuff."

"Oh." Laura nods, feeling silly afterwards because Carmilla can't see her. "Good night Carm."

"Good night." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Got any thoughts about it? Leave a comment! Thank you :)


	7. Butterflies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 7 or the one where Laura is being chased and Carmilla's chasing. Also, butterflies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Try to get back to regular schedule" my ass, right? 
> 
> Wow, what a long hiatus for me. I'm sorry!!! Life keeps getting in the way. I'm on my last semester in college and, I'm just so tired, stressed and hungry all the time. Thankfully, my muse is back and, here I am, writing Camp Silas once again! This one is a bit short but hey, I'll try to make it up for you next chapter. Consider it as: the calm before the storm... or something like that
> 
> And it's finally beta'd (whuuuut?!) Special thanks to noneqaf
> 
> So, let's get to it, shall we?

**Chapter 7**

Carmilla wakes up to a smiling Laura, reading the letter from the kids yesterday. She uses the fact that Laura hasn't noticed she's already up to her advantage and admires Laura from her bed, glad that the tiny human is smiling instead of crying.

_Hold on, what the fuck am I doing?_

She blinks in confusion because first, woah, why the admiration? And second, she is way too happy for Laura and admittedly, Carmilla Karnstein is rarely happy. And yet, here she is, feeling happiness because of another person's own joy.

Well, this is disgusting (and it's getting out of hand).

Laura's actually into girls and Carmilla couldn't find it in her to deny her attraction for the tiny human anymore. She likes Laura, sure, but it's still complicated. Laura just got out of a relationship and is showing no signs of attraction towards her. She's practically friendly with every single breathing species in the camp, so it's not like she can use that as a sign to anything. Carmilla won't be surprised if she ever finds out Laura's the kind of girl who just randomly sings and gets followed by animals like those girls in Disney movies who are all entirely too sweet. Plus, it's only been a week since the two of them met. Things are going way too fast and she should really slow down (she's not even sure why she likes the girl! She just does and, quite frankly, that scares the crap out of her).

Carmilla's point is; Laura is someone she probably has no chance with. Plus, given their short stay in camp, she doubts that she can make the  tiny girl like her back.

Voices echo in her head. The words said to her in the past ring in her ears, making her clench her fists and will the voices away because she doesn't need that to remind her how she's never going to be good enough.

Carmilla sits up from her bed, catching Laura's attention. "Oh, hey, good morning sleepyhead." She says. "I was just about to wake you up."

Glancing at the wall clock, Carmilla's eyes widen at the discovery that it's just a few minutes past six in the morning. "Not hearing that horrible morning trumpet and still waking up this early makes me want to look in the mirror. I'm not sure if I'm still me." Carmilla groans, plopping back down on the bed and covering her face with her pillow. Laura laughs at that and Carmilla just has to take in a deep breath because Laura's laugh just took her breath away.

"Carm, you're going to miss breakfast." Laura reminds her.

"Hate to break it to you, sundance, but if you ask me which one I'd pick, I'd rather choose the extra minutes of sleep instead of breakfast."

Laura doesn't respond, much to Carmilla's surprise. She is about to drift back to sleep when she suddenly feels Laura sitting beside her on her bed. Carmilla peeks, looking at Laura from behind the pillow on her face. "Can I help you?" Carmilla asks.

Laura is looking at her with a small smile and Carmilla's thankful for the pillow covering her face because she is definitely blushing under the blonde's gaze. _Not cool, Karnstein. Not cool._

She has never seen Laura look at her like this before. Her brown eyes focused on her, looking at her with such happiness? No, it's not just that. Rather Carmilla can see... appreciation? "Cupcake?"

It takes all of Carmilla's will power not to flinch when Laura raises a hand and places it on top of hers on the pillow. Okay, this is not good. She's way too flustered at six in the morning. "I was horrible last night and I just wanted to thank you again for taking care of me. Plus, the letters..." Laura pauses, squeezing Carmilla's hand in hers gently. "Thank you for that."

Carmilla doesn't know which letters her roommate is talking about but she guesses she'll just accept the blonde's gratitude. "Thanking me once is enough, cupcake. You don't have to do it again."

She is well-aware of the fact that her hand is still in Laura's and that the blonde has started caressing the back of her hand with her thumb, drawing small circles on it. It feels nice having someone do that. Carmilla removes the pillow from her face and smiles at Laura, slowly sitting up, the two of them never breaking eye contact.

They stay like that for a while until a loud knocking breaks their contact. Laura immediately removes her hand from Carmilla's and if she's being honest, she actually wants Laura to hold her hand again.

"Laura, Carmilla? You two up yet? Breakfast is almost ready." The voice, which Carmilla assumes is from Isabel - the camp staff they met during their first breakfast here in Camp Silas - calls out to them.

She gives out a huge sigh and Laura giggles. "Yeah, we're up. We'll be there in a bit!"

Carmilla looks at her in disbelief. "I wanted more sleep!" She hisses.

"Well now, I guess that'll have to wait." Laura says, squinting her eyes playfully before running off to the bathroom.

_What the hell was that?!_

_\---_

There's something bothering Laura now that she actually has full recollection of what happened last night. It's what Carmilla said when she mentioned seeing Danny's name on the letter.

_She thought I had a boyfriend._

"You know, I thought you were observant and the kind of people who remember details thoroughly." Laura begins while they're on their way to the mess hall.

Carmilla looks at her, one eyebrow arched. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asks, tucking her hands inside her Camp Silas hoodie which she secretly seems to enjoy a lot.

"You thought I had a boyfriend." Laura's not really sure where their conversation is heading but she sure wants to make it clear that she's not into guys. Her reason? Who knows? Maybe she feels comfortable enough with Carmilla that she wants her to know that she's a lesbian or maybe she just feels like sharing? Laura has no idea, really. "Remember that time I helped you with your sore feet because you went on a trail with me to find Julia?"

The brunette nods but is still looking at her with a confused expression.

"Well, I just thought you'd remember that I told you my ex-girlfriend taught me that trick." Laura mumbles, referring to the warm water and salt method.

"Ah." Carmilla finally nods her head. "I have to remind you though how exhausted I was so you have to excuse me for not remembering. Besides, how was I supposed to know that you don't swing both ways?" Carmilla asks, chuckling.

Laura smiles at her. "At least, now you know."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

Carmilla nudges Laura gently and smirks at her. "I'll be sure to remember that very precious piece of information, creampuff." She licks her lips and Laura just had to gulp because _why is that so sexy?_ "I'm pretty sure it will come in handy one of these days." She finishes.

Laura is brought to a complete stop because okay, how long have they been walking? Surely she can't be that tired yet but her heart is just beating so fast that she feels like she just ran a marathon. Carmilla's laugh rings in her ears which makes her come out of her trance.

"Try to keep up, sweetheart."

Finally arriving at the mess hall, the two of them occupy their usual seat with LaFontaine, Perry and Kirsch. JP is a new addition to the table. Laura waves over to Isabel and Betty on the other table, who wave back at her.

"'Sup Lady Bro, Little L?" Kirsch greets them. Carmilla replies with a scoff, probably annoyed that she's actually making friends.

Laura smiles at him. "Good morning, Kirsch."

Carmilla slides on the bench first, sitting next to the incredibly tall man child, who is smirking at her. She leans her forehead on the table and raises a hand a bit to acknowledge Kirsch then lets it fall back down on her lap. Laura shakes her head, laughing, as she slides next to her. Across the table, Perry, LaFontaine and JP nod at them.

"Good morning, ladies." Perry greets them, smiling. LaFontaine starts serving them a plate of bacon and eggs and Laura notices how Carmilla perks up at the smell of it. "How were you last night, Laura?" Perry whispers.

Laura bites her lip before smiling shyly. "Embarrassing. But," she glances at Carmilla who is now busy trying to steal bacon from Kirsch. The two seem to be really getting along despite the broody girl's snarky remarks. "I had excellent care." She whispers back, giggling.

Perry looks at Carmilla appreciatively and it doesn't go unnoticed by said girl. She stops her resistance and quickly covers her plate as Kirsch looks like he is about to jump on the table and steal Carmilla's plate. "What?" She asks in her usual grumpy tone. Perry and Laura both shake their heads and she glares at them before quickly reaching out to Kirsch's plate and stabbing a bacon strip with her fork, popping it in her mouth.

"Bro." Kirsch groans, looking so offended.

"Bro." Carmilla smirks at him.

For some unknown reason, the two seem to be at ease with each other now. _At least Carmilla's getting comfortable,_ Laura thinks.

They all fall into a peaceful breakfast (minus the childish exchange between Carmilla and Kirsch - the childish part mostly coming from Kirsch while her roommate doesn't seem to run out of nicknames for the 'big puppy'). Laura learns a few things about JP as well. Turns out he's been helping in camp for three years now and is really good friends with Laf, Perry and Kirsch. He's quiet and is more of a listener rather than a talker. JP is nice though, Laura thinks.

"By the way, Perr," LaFontaine calls. "I think Hester may have mentioned that she found a replacement for Olivia."

Perry nods at this and JP listens in. "That's good. At least we've managed to replace her immediately." She notices Laura looking at them. "One of the counselors, Olivia, had to go home due to an emergency so we had a problem since we'd be one counselor short, but looks like my mum's managed to handle the situation." Perry explains.

"Ah." Laura nods in understanding. "I think I saw her name on my schedule. Too bad I didn't get to meet her." She says.

The door to the mess hall opens and Laura looks to the doorway. Hester enters, and with her is-

-No.

Laura can't believe it but she really can't be mistaken. From the height to the features - Laura wouldn't mistake her for anyone else.

 _'NonononononoNO_!'

\---

Carmilla isn't interested in whoever opened the door to the mess hall because Kirsch is still trying to get some bacon from her plate. He finally manages to be successful, but only because Laura's body going stiff beside Carmilla distracts her enough for him to do something. She looks over to where Laura is looking and sees a tall red head walking behind Perry's mother.

"Cupcake, hey." Carmilla calls out to her but she seems to be in shock.

"Hi everyone." Hester speaks, catching everyone's attention. "One of our counselors, Olivia, needed to go home due to a family emergency. Luckily, this tall woman over here," She nudges the girl who smiles down at her while a few of the counselors laugh. "called and asked if there's still a spot left in our team. I'd like you all to welcome Danny Lawrence, our new camp counselor."

Even Carmilla tenses at the name and from what she can see, the ginger twins do too. Laura looks torn between getting angry and crying when hers and Danny's eyes met.

Looks like the trouble is here. Danny, the person who sent the letters. Danny, Laura's ex-girlfriend.

"Oh no." Laura whispers.

Carmilla watches as Danny and Hester make their way towards their table. God, how awkward can this be? Laura looks down on her plate, stabs a bacon and pops it in her mouth as if eating would postpone the inevitable.

"Good morning everyone." Hester says when she and the gargantuan woman are already by their table. Carmilla can see how Perry is ready to stand up and grab her mother but Laura is first to react.

"Good morning Hester. Danny." The name sounds like it has been spewed with venom as it leaves her mouth.

Hester nods. "You have quite a girlfriend over here. She said she'd volunteer just to be able to get in contact with you. Must've missed you a lot."

 _Awkward..._ Carmilla sighs, eyeing LaFontaine and Perry who are looking at Laura then at her. Kirsch is silent for once as he stares at Danny. JP seems to get a bad vibe because he decides to be quieter than he already is.

 Laura smiles at Hester then at Danny. "Yeah, some girlfriend she is, huh?"

There is a bit of scrambling on the side opposite them and Carmilla's impressed at how quick Perry is up her feet. "Mum, uhm, can I- yeah?" She says, looping her arm around her mother's and then dragging her away. Kirsch and JP look at each other and JP signals with his head, nodding to the side and Kirsch, for once, understands and the two of them get out of their seats.

"Laur, can we talk in private?" Danny speaks.

Laura smirks, surely she got that from Carmilla. "Why? These are my friends, you know."

"Laura."

"Danny."

It seems like Laura didn't want to be alone with this giant but it's starting to feel like she's intruding. Surely LaFontaine's feeling the same since they're looking at her.

"Laura, please?" Can this giant be more persistent?

The way Laura's hand on the table clenches makes Carmilla wonder if she's going to start throwing punches at Danny. That'd be interesting, considering that they look like David and Goliath. Goliath looks at her and LaFontaine and the way she glares at the two of them makes her want to stand up and play the role of David instead. Laura must have noticed how Carmilla was about to stand up so she places a hand on her knee and looks at her briefly. At the brief moment that their eyes met, Laura smiles at her, it's the smile that doesn't reach her eyes but it's reassuring that she's fine.

"Okay Danny. Let's talk." Laura says as soon as she turns her attention to the redhead.

The two of them step out of the mess hall. "That was intense." LaFontaine mumbles afterwards.

"You can say that again, ginger nerd." Carmilla groans. "That gargantuan got the nerve to follow Laura here, huh." She huffs then continues eating. Carmilla can't help but see how LaFontaine smiles widely at her. "What?"

"Nothing!" They raise their hands up defensively.

Carmilla rolls her eyes and focuses on her food. _Well, isn’t this an interesting turn of events._

\---

“Start talking.” Laura says, crossing her arms over her chest as soon as she and Danny are in the safety of her and Carmilla’s cabin.

“Laura, I’m so sorry. I was really stupid an-”

The smaller of the two girls shakes her head, putting a stop to Danny’s reply. “Stop. I don’t need to hear the apologies, Danny. Why are you here?” Laura looks up at her ex-girlfriend.

Danny runs a hand through her hair and sighs. “I’m here to ask for a second chance Laura. You never replied to my messages then I hear from your dad that you left for camp? We need to talk about this Laur.” She says trying to reach out for Laura who moves away from her touch. “C’mon, Laura. I’m so sorry, I just… I want you back. I’ve been foolish, I know. But, I can’t lose you Laura.”

Laura can somehow see the sincerity in Danny’s eyes as she looks at them. Laura’s not really mad at her, not anymore at least, but it doesn’t mean that she can easily accept her back. She’s not even sure that she wants her back and it’s all too confusing for her. They’ve been friends for so long and of course she misses the friendship but after everything, Laura just can’t go back that fast.

“I was hurt, you know?” Laura starts and Danny immediately opens her mouth but seeing the stern look on Laura’s face, she closes it. “You can’t just expect me to just go back to the way we were before, Danny.” She sees how the taller girl looks deflated at her words. “But, I’ll accept the apology.” She says.

Nodding, Danny tucks her hands in her pockets. It’s awfully awkward especially since neither of them know what to say to each other afterwards. Laura clears her throat. “So, uh, are you really planning on staying here?” She asks.

“Y-Yeah, I mean, I can work on the things they’ve asked me to do here for work and, children can be fun to be around?” Danny shrugs and smiles shyly at Laura.

Laura nods. “Uh, I think we should get back to the mess hall. So you can eat.” She says.

Danny agrees and they both exit the cabin. Not a word is said as soon as they stepped out. It’s an uncomfortable silence that Laura really wishes to escape already. Thankfully she sees Perry and LaFontaine patrolling the area.

Saturdays are a half day for the camp. There are only afternoon activities so the campers are free to roam the camp for the mornings after they eat. The mess hall is already full of campers so Laura briefly wonders where her roommate is.

“Hey Frosh.” LaFontiane greets her then turns to Danny. They nod at the taller girl.

Perry on the other hand, is looking at her cautiously. Laura smiles at the two of them. “So, this is Danny.” She mumbles. Danny awkwardly raises a hand but like LaF, Perry only nods at her. “Right. So, where’s Carmilla?”

“Oh you know, brooding somewhere probably.” They shrug, smirking.

“Actually, I saw her following some kids around. I think it’s the two girls who made her a flower crown.” Perry points to the field.

Laura nods and wonders whether she should find Carmilla when someone else catches her attention. “Huh.” She says. “Say, I guess I should do some patrolling too.” Laura smiles at them and runs off. She feels bad leaving Danny like that but she really has no obligation to make the girl feel at home.

She stops in front of Julia, the little girl sitting underneath a tree on her own. Laura understands why she’s having a hard time fitting in, what with being the youngest in camp, she really has no one to relate to. Laura remembers how she felt back then when she was the youngest in the camp. She’s lucky that Perry and LaFontaine were there. “Hey Julia.” Laura smiles and sits next to the girl.

“Hello Laura.” The little girl mumbles.

“Having fun?” Laura asks. Julia just raises her shoulders, a slight shake of her head. Laura just smiles sadly at her and wishes she can find  something to make the little girl feel better. “Any activities later?” She asks again.

“Bookmark making.” Julia says, hugging her knees to her chest.

The older girl tries to remember her schedule then grins. “I’ll be the counselor for that activity.” She says. “Maybe we can make a bookmark together?”

Julia nods, smiling at her.

“Carmilla, do you like butterflies?” A voice from afar catches Laura’s attention. There, Carmilla is being dragged by two girls who are laughing. There is a huge frown on her face as the two girls run, holding her hands while following a butterfly.

“Yes Shaira, I like butterflies but butterflies don’t like being chased. It’ll think you’re being mean to it.” Carmilla says as they pass the tree.

The girl, Shaira, stops then pouts her lips. Suddenly it looks like she’s going to cry. The other girl lets go of Carmilla’s hand to pat her friend on the back, the panicked look in Carmilla’s eyes does not escape Laura. The dark-haired girl crouches down in front of the now crying girl.

Laura and Julia look at each other. The two of them walk towards the girls.

“Hey, hey, Shaira. Don’t cry.” Carmilla pats the little girl’s hair.

“I don’t want the butterfly to think I’m mean.” She sniffs and Laura finds it incredibly adorable when the girl wraps her arms around Carmilla, sobbing.

It is then that Carmilla notices Laura. Their eyes met briefly, he brunette rolling her eyes when Laura smiles at her playfully. Carmilla wraps her arms around Shaira. “No, it won’t think you’re mean since you stopped chasing it now. Shhh…”

“Yeah! Don’t cry, Shaira.” The other girl pats her friend’s head repeatedly, slightly hitting Carmilla’s as well.

“Listen to Sherilyn.” Carmilla lets go of the little girl and immediately, Shaira bites her lip, trying not to cry. Carmilla smirks, wiping Shaira’s tears before standing up to look at Laura. “Hey cupcake.” She smirks.

Before Laura could even respond, Shaira pulls at Carmilla’s hand.

“Her name is cupcake?”

Carmilla shakes her head.

“Why don’t you call me or Sheh a cupcake?” Shaira pouts again.

 _This is really interesting,_ Laura thinks as she tries not to laugh.

“Err, because.” Carmilla stops to think. “You’re not just any cupcake. You two are princesses. Okay, princess?”

That is more than enough to make Shaira stop crying. “Sheh, we’re princesses!” Shaira laughs then looks at Julia who is watching the scene unfold much like Laura. “Play with us! You’ll be a princess too!” Shaira extends a hand out to Julia.

Laura nods at Julia and the little girl holds Shaira’s hand. The three of them began walking off towards the cabins. Laura laughs, turning her head to Carmilla. “Aren’t you a softie.” She nudges Carmilla by the side.

“Oh shut up and pretend you didn’t see anything cupcake.” Carmilla groans then squints. “Hang on.”

Carmilla then turns to her, raising her hand towards Laura’s face. There has got to be something wrong with Laura because she gasps then stops breathing. What is Carmilla going to do? She bites her lip.

“There.” Carmilla pulls out a leaf from her hair. The brunette studies her roommate’s face then smirks. “Well, I should follow those three around, creampuff.” She begins walking away. “You coming, cutie?”

Laura gulps because there are not supposed to be butterflies. Well, in her stomach, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not promising any scheduled update but... soon? Hopefully.
> 
> Again, thanks to noneqaf~


	8. Special Treatment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 8 or the one where Laura thinks a lot, Carmilla should be checking her schedule and the plot thickens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Camp Silas is back! Sorry for the wait (again, surprise, surprise). How've you all been? Hope you had a wonderful holiday.
> 
> So, chapter 8! Once again, special thanks to noneqaf for being a wonderful betareader!

**Chapter 8**

Afternoon activities have begun and Laura can't help but notice how Julia's frequently smiling while making bookmarks with Shaira and Sherilyn. She's happy that Carmilla's little angels (she decided to call the two girls by that name, much to her roommate's annoyance) had taken Julia under their wings. The three girls remind her of Perry, LaF and herself back when they were still campers.

Kelsey, her partner for this activity, is doing a great job talking to the kids about their bookmarks and Laura's actually learning from the interactions and finds it nice that the kids are listening to Kelsey really eagerly while she talks about her favorite children's book and explains that as soon as she’s done, the kids are to share their favorite books. Apparently, it's easier control the kids when you engage in conversations with them because they're attentive with what you say and rather than looking after them, it feels like the kids and the counselors are bonding. As the minutes went on, the kids are being more vocal about the topic itself and not just their own chattering about anything.

Her mind drifts off to Danny and she wonders what Danny was thinking when following her here. Did she think that they'd get back together? While yes, Laura is willing to forgive, it's not that easy to go back to the way it was; she's not even sure if she wants to go back to what they were before. The friendship, yes — they were really close friends, after all — but beyond that... Laura deadpans. A few days ago, she was really devastated about this, but now? Now, something has definitely changed. Something that makes her act the way she does right now.

During her first few days in camp, she was so sure that if she'd seen Danny, no matter how tall the other girl is, Laura would've slapped her (not that she approves of violence or revenge, she just wanted Danny to feel even at least an inch of her pain and anger), but right now she actually feels nothing. The initial shock is gone and the anger that came along with it has vanished too.

Laura admits that having Danny as her girlfriend brought a feeling that having the tall redhead around was somewhat a part of the normalcy of her everyday life. She thought that being in a relationship with Danny would be like leveling up — getting new skills and privileges — but the 'girlfriend' label came and that’s all it was: normal.

It makes Laura shake her head because now she's questioning her feelings for Danny.

It just honestly surprises her how unaffected she seems that Danny's here and it doesn't make her want to either slap her or kiss her — or even both at the same time. Working in an industry where romance novels get sent to them day after day in hopes of getting published, Laura has read a ton of novels that went with the formula: a relationship; a break-up; a reunion; conflicting feelings; the decision on getting back together or not; end. So far, Laura's only experienced the reunion, but no conflicting feelings on her part.

Something's probably wrong with this, but Laura can't help but feel that finally, things are on the right track for her.

 

* * *

 

 

The thing about schedules is that she's supposed to read it thoroughly then follow it. Apparently, Carmilla has only been following blindly. She has learned a valuable lesson today.

It appears that she's been paired up with an 'Olivia'. Now, where did she hear that name?

Right.

_Breakfast this morning._

And what did Olivia do?

_She went home._

And who replaced Olivia?

Carmilla groans.

 _Danny_ — tall, ginger and Miss Congeniality, from the looks of it. The kids love her — _what a charmer_ —Carmilla scoffs to herself, sitting down on the corner of the activity room while the little kids stretch. What is this class about anyway? Carmilla has forgotten already. The gigantic redhead seems to be enjoying herself anyway and frankly, Carmilla prefers it like that rather than — oh, no.

The kids are all paired up and are doing Chinese get-ups for some reason (she really needs to check what kind of activity this is, by the way) _focus, Carmilla!_

Danny is making her way towards her and god, how annoying is she that she’s all _chin-up-and-proud_ when she’s already tall as the heavens — and why she’s walking towards her, Carmilla doesn’t really know. Carmilla naturally avoids people because, one, she doesn’t like unnecessary interactions; and two, does she look like she the one who likes to socialize with a lot of people? She chooses the people she wants to talk to (and the jolly red giant is not one of those selected few).

So basically, being forced into camp should be a huge nightmare but somehow, Laura makes it bearable. And Carmilla hates it because she’s sure she prepared for everything — annoying children, nosy co-workers, hours in the sun, the camp itself — but, she’s never expected that she’d feel so much admiration for someone she’s onlyknown for a week. In spite of this, she’s eased herself a bit in camp, somehow.

With Laura’s gigantic ex-girlfriend though, Carmilla’s not so sure anymore.

“Hi. Carmilla, right?” Danny says when she has finally reached Carmilla, who only greets in return by nodding her head then looking at the kids who are failing the Chinese get-up. “Uh, so, you and Laura seem close. She’s never mentioned you before though.”

Whatever the redhead’s goal is when talking to her, she’s not going achieve it. “That would require for Laura and I to have known each other before camp, which we didn’t.” Danny raises an eyebrow.

“Ah, so you two just met here.” She smiles awkwardly. “That’s Laura for you — making friends with everyone immediately.”

Carmilla takes the attendance sheet on the table and nods. “Right.” She drawls out before walking to the other side of the room hoping that it should be an obvious clue that she has no intention of talking.

It seems that being stubborn is a trait both Laura and Xena over here share, though, because Carmilla feels Danny following her. “Do you have a problem with me?” She asks.

Okay, confrontation, Carmilla can handle that. “Why are you even being all chummy with me?”

“Ever heard of being friends? Can’t a co-worker ask about-“

“Oh, don’t give me that, Xena. You greet me with a ‘Hi, something, something, Laura, something’. Clearly, befriending me isn’t your intention.” Carmilla crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. “If you’re trying to get on my good side because of Laura, forget it, okay? We’re roommates. We have to get along. No big deal.” She shrugs. “Now, can we please go back to babysitting? I am not in the mood for pointless chitchats.”

As soon as the activity ends, Carmilla slips out of the room after making sure that the kids are all there and heading out to their next activity. She heads to their room, still wondering what activity the kids just did.

 

* * *

 

“Must be awkward for Laura,” LaFontaine says as they drain the water from the noodles. “to have bothher ex-girlfriend and a potential girlfriend here.” They continue.

Perry nods though she is not entirely absorbed in the conversation. She’s reading a notice sent to Hester by a known company that’s been annoying them for the past couple of months about selling the camp to them. “This is quite unsettling.” Perry says.

At this, LaFontaine nods. “I know! I wonder how Laura’s dealing with that.” They mumble, starting on another batch of noodles for the dinner later. “Danny looks like a nice person if we try to forget about the fact that she cheated on Laura – which, we’re not, by the way. But Carmilla and Laura are hitting it off and I think they actually might like each other. Don’t you think so, Perr?”

No response.

“Perr?” They look at Perry and see how the redhead is looking intensely at the letter in her hand. They sigh and then walk towards their best friend, stopping behind her and peeking from her shoulder to read the paper.

From the looks of it, it seems that the company is serious about buying the camp site from Perry’s family. “Perry, it’s not like they can forcefully evict you from your own land, y’know?” They offer her words of comfort.

Perry turns her head to LaFontaine, their faces merely inches from each other that the two of them jump in surprise and take a step back. LaFontaine scratches the back of their neck while Perry clears her throat. “Ah, yes well, about that. _Forcefully_ might be a wrong term since my mother has been considering it.”

“ _What?_ ” They shout, their eyes widening at Perry’s revelation. “Hester’s considering it to sell Silas? But Perr, this place has been rooted a part of your family since like, forever!”

“Honey, I know that. And I told her that when we were discussing about this earlier when she informed me about it.” She sighs in defeat. “I’m going to convince her not to, for now. This place is so precious to me and I’m sure it holds a lot of significance to her as well. I’m sure she won’t give Silas up.” Perry says, smiling slightly before turning to the door.

There is a look of dread in Perry’s eyes and LaFontaine doesn’t miss it when she heaves a sigh before going out.

Meanwhile, hundreds of things are going through Perry’s mind as she makes her way to her mom—they have discussed it during lunch but it was cut short because the afternoon activities were about to start — she really needs to convince Hester to decline the offer. Yes, they’re talking about huge amount of money,but if the camp gets sold, there would be no more summer camp to go back to and Silas is a precious place to her.

She walks to the main cabin and opens the door. “Mom?” Perry calls out to Hester who is arranging some papers on the reception desk.

“Lola,” Hester starts with a sad smile as soon as she sees the letter in her daughter’s hand. “I’m not agreeing to it yet.”

“The ‘yet’ part worries me, mom.” Perry raises the letter. “Silas is going to be turned into some sort of factory! We can’t just agree to this!” 

Hester nods at the statement. “I know, which is why I’m saying that I’m not really in favor of it.” Perry brightens up at this. “But, Lola, you have to understand, things are different now. Kids would rather stay home, text each other, meet with their summer romance, than to go to summer camps. It’s losing its appeal nowadays and less kids are enrolling each year.”

Perry hates it because it’s true. She’s noticed the drop in camper numbers and she admits that it is alarming. “But-“

“Yes. But, like I’ve said, I’m not agreeing to it just yet, Lola.” Hester walks to Perry and pats her shoulder. “Anyway, tomorrow’s the first free day, dear. Lighten up.”

 _If only it were that easy_. Perry sighs, still concerned.

 

* * *

 

After her duty with Kelsey, Laura heads to the cabin to get some rest. She thinks she only has one counselor duty today so maybe she’ll take a nap or something and, seeing that she’s already decided to stay in the cabin, it’ll be less likely for her to bump into Danny, so that’s a plus.

“Home sweet home.” She says, closing her eyes as she yawns and stretches the arm that wasn’t preoccupied by opening the door. She opens her eyes and it lands on Carmilla who is at her side of the room, leaning against the backrest of the bed as she reads her book. The brunette is looking at her with a smirk and Laura realizes she’s halfway through her yawn and stretching her arm is making her shirt ride up slightly, exposing her stomach; she immediately closes her mouth and puts her arm down.

“Welcome home, sweetheart.” Carmilla greets, her teasing tone in full force, which causes Laura to blush asshe pushes the door to close it and moves towards her bed.

“Shut up.” She grumbles, eliciting a chuckle from her roommate. She flops down the bed in an exhausted manner — it feels so good to be lying in bed after the day she had. “How was your activity?” She offers, starting up a conversation.

As if the question caused her distress, Carmilla groans loudly. “You mean hell.” She huffs out. “I don’t know if you wanna hear it but I’ll tell you anyway;guess who I was supposed to be paired with earlier? It was that counselor who left, that’s who! So technically, my partner was your velociraptor of a girlfriendand guess what, she figured she should be all chummy with me since she saw us interacting.”

“Oh my god.” Laura doesn’t know if she should laugh or feel bad about it. “And it’s _ex_ -girlfriend, Carm.” She doesn’t know why she feels like she should be clarifying this but she does anyway(Laura doesn’t miss the way the corner of Carmilla’s lips lifts up a bit at that). “And, well, she probably thinks she should interrogate you or something.”

“She should dream on.” Carmilla grumbles, burying her nose back in the book.

Laura laughs at this. “I’m pretty sure you charmed her off with your social skills.”

“You mean, _turned_ her off.” Carmilla corrects her and she giggles. “I didn’t need to waste my amazing social skills on her, cupcake. She doesn’t get the special treatment.” The brunette mutters nonchalantly.

For some reason, Laura’s mouth goes on autopilot and asks: “Am I getting the special treatment then?”

Both of them are caught off guard by the question and they end up looking at each other and, even though Carmilla’s face is hidden behind the book, Laura can see the surprise in her eyes. _Wrong move, wrong move! What the heck, Laura?_ She internally yells at herself then avoids eye contact with the other girl,her mind reeling as she thinks of a way to make it sound like she’s joking. For a writer, it’s kinda disappointing that her words aren’t really coming out when she needs them the most.

“You deserve the special treatment, cupcake.”

Laura’s heart skips a few beats hearing that and she couldn’t help the smile that reaches her lips. Her eyes focus back onCarmilla but the brunette has gone back to reading her book. “You’re really going soft, aren’t you?” Laura should really stop talking sometimes.

Carmilla puts her book down and looks at the blonde. “Don’t test your luck with me, sweetheart.” She tilts her head to the side and smirks, raising her eyebrow.

 _I feel like I want to, sometimes._ Laura admits to herself and, to her, it’s kind of weird how she just wants to unravel the mystery that is Carmilla, the brooding roommate.

Ever since she can remember, she’s been a fan of solving mysteries  and, apparently, some things really don’t change. Laura laughs and shakes her head.

A knock on the door stops her before she can even think of something to reply to her roommate. “Carmilla?” It sounds like LaFontaine.

The brunette rolls her eyes and groans. “What is it?” She shouts, not bothering to open the door and Laura can’t help but rolling her eyes as well as she gets up from her bed and heads to the door to open it.

“Oh, hey Laura.” LaFontaine greets, smiling before peaking inside to see Carmilla who is trying for the umpteenth time to read her book. “So, uh, Carmilla, you’ve got a phone call on the main cabin. Said she’s a relative.” They turn to look at Laura who is smiling, but it’s clear that she’s not smiling at them but at a certain roommate of hers. “Uh, sorry, am I interrupting anything?”

Carmilla waves her hand before putting her book down. “Oh, not really. It’s just that creampuff and I were having a little moment over here.” She grumbles, standing up and straightening her shirt then glancing at Laura who scoffs and tries to hide the smile on her face when Carmilla met her gaze.

“We’re having a moment?” Laura replies, her voice sarcastic and playful. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware. Warn me next time, will you?” Carmilla laughs at that.

“You’re killing me, Hollis.” Carmilla shakes her head, giving Laura a small smile then turning to LaFontaine. “Thanks Ginger Two.” She tells LaF before walking towards the main cabin.

Laura notices how LaFontaine has an eyebrow raised at her. “What?”

“That doesn’t look like I didn’t interrupt anything.” They grin, crossing their arm. “So, Carmilla?”

“W-What?” Laura asks, tilting her head and making a face. “That’s just Carmilla and I…” She stops, pouting. “…casually talking.”

LaFontaine chuckles, leaning against the cabin’s door. “Sure, crushes-on-roommates.”

She’s been trying so hard to deny it but she really has this _slight_ attraction towards her brunette roommate. Sure, she’s had a crush on Danny back in college, but the attraction towards Carmilla is different. With Danny, she really admired her because she’s, well, gorgeous and brave and well, Danny — her Lit TA and the Summer Society vice-president— basically, she’s amazing; like, seeing the light after being inside a dark tunnel for a very long time.

With Carmilla though, it started as something annoying, what with being roommates without even knowing each other at all. Laura used to dislike her since she thought the broody girl was just anti-social, all snarky-remarks and sarcasm, but under all those pretty accurate characteristics, Carmilla is more than that; she’s a puzzle that’s really hard to solve and frustrating and infuriating, sometimes, but somehow, Laura refuses to give up on her.

“Laura, are you there?” LaFontaine waves their hand, catching Laura’s attention.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry about that, LaF.” She apologizes, scratching the back of her neck and chucklingsheepishly. “You were saying?”

“I said, it seems complicated.”

Oh, it is. She’s sure there hasn’t been a closure between her and Danny and the fact that Danny wants her back disappoints her for some reason. “It’s weird.” She starts, pouting. “I’m not sulking at all at the fact that Danny cheated on me. I was worrying that I’m never going to get over it but, here I am, a week later, totally fine about us going on separate ways in terms of our relationship.” She runs a hand through her hair and sighs. “What does that say about me?”

LaFontaine understands where she’s going with this. “You don’t love her anymore, I suppose?” They enter the cabin to sit beside Laura on the bed. “Rather, you fell out of love with her. It happens, Laura. And it doesn’t make you a bad person. I guess you can say that a lot of people try hard to maintain things the way they are because the normalcy of it all is comfortable.”

Laura gives a small, sad smile at LaFontaine. Keeping the normalcy of things is something LaFontaine has been dealing with for such a long time now. They’ve liked Perry since who knows how long and even if they never say it, Laura can tell that they’ve been having a hard time too.

LaF would love to go to the science institute but they can’t leave Perry behind.

She wishes that life was less complicated, she would love to help them get together but she’d feel bad for intervening after coming back to their lives after just a week. She doesn’t get to do that to them.

The two of them share a comfortable silence as they both ponder on the changes they have to face.

 

* * *

 

“Ah, Carmilla. Great to see you, dear.”

Hester is a lot jollier than Perry, Carmilla takes note. She just entered the main cabin— this timeusing the front door instead of the back one like last night when she and Kirsch got there.

“Good afternoon.” She mumbles, greeting Hester who is behind the counter and then glancing at the phone.

“Well, while you’re here, do you mind if I head to the kitchen for a bit? I could use some tea.”

Carmilla shakes her head. “Not at all.”

With that, the older woman walks off to the kitchen after smiling at Carmilla who gets the phone receiver from the top of the counter. “Hello?”

“Kitten, how’s it going there?”

It’s Mattie – she easily recognizes the voice. “Good, I guess. I still don’t understand why mother sent me over here, though.” There’s a chuckling from her sister and Carmilla smirks. “Is this some sort of rehab for me?”

“Your drinking has certainly become a problem.” Mattie says in a playful tone and Carmilla chuckles to herself at the memory of the only time she got extremely wasted with her brother, Will, and got caught by their mother as they were sneaking in the house.

“It was one time. Let it go, Mattie.” She says.

Mattie laughs at her response. “Never, darling. How is the camp by the way? Cozy?”

“The camp needs improvement, if that’s what you’re asking. I mean, how old is this place? A lot of the cabins need refurbishing, if you ask me. Lot of work needs to be done with this place.”

There’s a pause and Carmilla would think that the line was cut off if it wasn’t for the hum Mattie lets out. “I see.” She says at last. “How about the campers? Are there many?”

This is odd. Mattie is interested? Carmilla doesn’t raise a question though. “We’ve got at least 60 kids here, maybe less. They’re good, I guess?”

Another pause. “Huh. Quite a small number compared to before.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised people still sign up for these.” Carmilla mumbles. “Though, I got to admit, it wouldn’t be so bad to experience this.”

She hears Mattie chuckle and there’s something about the way she does it that makes Carmilla realize that she shouldn’t have said that. “Last time you made a call, you didn’t sound like you were having fun but now you’re actually chuckling. Something must’ve happened.” It’s not a question but an observation.

Carmilla grimaces at herself because, really? Mattie actually thinks she’s having fun? What gave that away? _Oh, you know, Carmilla. You’re not complaining, you said camp life was good, you actually sound happy. Of course she’s not going to figure out._ Carmilla shakes her head. “It’s nothing, really.”

“It’s not ‘nothing’ if it’s making the little monster sound all happy.”

A groan escapes her lips. “I’m hanging up.”

She hears another laugh from Mattie and a ‘goodbye’ before she sets the phone back to its place. She shakes her head afterwards, a small smile forming on her lips. She waits for Hester to come back, thanking her for letting her use the phone, before going back to the cabin.


	9. Your Soft Side is Showing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 9th chapter - or the one where Laura is positive that Carmilla's a vampire and a softie while Carmilla denies both accusations; one's definitely true though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again with the super late updates! What is wrong with me? Adulting is hard. I apologize. Have a chapter with 5k+ words this time.

Minus the awkward encounters with a certain tall, redhead ex-girlfriend, Laura actually enjoys camp life by the second week.

Laura gets closer to some of the kids, though she has to admit, Julia is still her favorite. She’s been assigned a heavy load of counselor duties for this week but she figures, it’ll be alright because by the third week, she’s on rounds duty. And rounds duty means she just gets the attendance sheets and goes on night rounds. Laura later on learns that the night round pairings are based on cabin assignments which means, she’ll be doing night rounds with Carmilla.

The dirty-blonde ignores how her stomach felt like it did a somersault after gaining that knowledge.

The second week is still fun though, despite the load. She particularly enjoys the outdoor activities because she’s been working indoors for how many years that she actually missed feeling the sun against her skin. Plus, it’s really fun to see the kids enjoying the activities. Handling teenagers would probably be her most hated part of it because she can only take so little of the _‘this is so gonna damage my skin’_ and _‘ugh, why did I even think of doing this’_ complains before she actually gets annoyed because back in her time, she actually enjoyed these activities. Luckily, for the two instances that she’s been assigned with teens, Perry is her partner and Perry actually handles the teenagers like a professional (of course she would).

However, she discovers that her roommate is not a fan of the outdoors. Carmilla’s skin would often redden when exposed to the sun too much. She wears long sleeves during her outdoor duties, even when it’s too hot to wear them. She says it’s better than being sunburnt.

Laura hates to admit the fact that Carmilla still looks amazing in whatever clothes she decides to wear – not that she hasn’t established that before.

Speaking of clothing, Carmilla likes her red flannel. A few days into the second week, the brunette arrives in the mess hall wearing Laura’s red flannel over her black band shirt. When Laura asked, the girl simply shrugs and says she confused it as hers. So she simply ignores it. Days later, Carmilla’s wearing it again over her camp shirt because she ran out of long sleeves. Laura doesn’t mind, for some reason.

While she did enjoy the outdoors, Laura is glad that she’s down to her last two activities to attend to for the week. She walks over to the cabins after just finishing a hill climb activity. It’s just 10:30 in the morning and Laura suspects that her last two activities would be after lunch, one after the other.

She enters the cabin, pushing the door and looking around. There is no sign of Carmilla so she concludes that her roommate is either on duty or she’s at a quiet spot, reading a book. Laura sluggishly walks to her bed, exhausted after walking for hours that she doesn’t even realize that she’s fallen asleep until she hears something fall on the floor. She immediately sits up to see Carmilla, cringing as she looks down on a water bottle on the floor which Laura assumes is what she heard.

Carmilla then looks at her and groans. “Sorry cupcake. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Her roommate says, frowning. “Perry told me to check on you since it’s lunch time and you’re not at the mess hall yet but you looked exhausted so I was trying to let you sleep. Too bad this little shit here decided now was the best time to fall off the table.” Carmilla finishes; obviously annoyed at the water bottle. Laura finds this absolutely adorable.

“Hey, it’s okay Carm. I wasn’t even supposed to go to sleep.” The blonde offers Carmilla a warm smile which she returns with a sheepish, apologetic, lopsided smile. “It’s lunch time already huh?” Laura looks at the clock to confirm the time. “Anyway, thanks for your consideration.” Her roommate only shrugs and walks towards the door only to lean against it, looking at Laura who immediately smiles at the realization that she’s waiting for her.

Laura makes sure to subtly wipe her mouth, hoping she wasn’t drooling earlier then hops to her feet and follows Carmilla who closes the door behind them.

As they make their way to the mess hall, Carmilla tells her about the annoying kid, Daverell, who kept on throwing crumpled paper at the other kids during her previous activity. She’s lucky enough that she’s been assigned to an indoor activity but Laura guesses that Carmilla would choose the sun over kids who she thinks exists for the sole purpose of annoying the living crap out of her.

The fact that Carmilla is talking a lot more than she usually did back during the first week is also comforting, in Laura’s opinion. She secretly takes pride in the fact that Carmilla doesn’t talk much with others like she does with her. It’s funny how the brunette still tries to act all cool and collected around her but fails miserably most of the time.

They eventually get to the mess hall and sit down on their usual seats with Perry, LaFontaine, Kirsch and JP. She notices how Kirsch and Carmilla fall back into their routine of trying to annoy each other. While it’s true that Carmilla doesn’t talk much with others, she sure enjoys trying to infuriate Kirsch which has never happened yet. Laura’s beginning to think that Kirsch really is a giant puppy because apparently, he thinks Carmilla's always playing with him. It's a wonder what actually offends the guy but Laura doesn't really want to know. She'd rather that Kirsch stays the same.

Laura glances to the wall clock only to realize that it's time for her to go to her next duty. "I should be off. It's almost time for me to go to the lake for the next activity."

"Another outdoor activity, huh." Carmilla smirks. "Try not to get sunburnt out there cutie." Laura rolls her eyes at the brunette but continues to smile at Carmilla.

"The only one who gets sunburnt that easy is you. I'm really beginning to think that you are a vampire." She replies, trying to match her roommate's playful tone.

"Maybe I really am. Careful cupcake, I might just eat you alive."

"Uh, Laura?" Both Laura and Carmilla stops their playful banter to look at Perry who is smiling at them. "Laura, dear, what happened to 'you should be off'?"

Laura blushes at the realization that she and Carmilla are sitting closer to each other now. She stands up immediately. "Right. Going. I'm going." She scratches the back of her head, nodding a bit. "I'll go now." She points the door, looking at all of them before bolting out of the mess hall.

 

* * *

 

Fate is a funny thing, Laura thinks as she discovers that her second to last duty for the day is with Danny. She makes a mental note to change Olivia's name into Danny in her schedule list since she keeps forgetting that Olivia left for an emergency and Danny replaced her.

The activity is just a few trust exercises and as if things can't get worse, Laura discovers she really needs to stop thinking positive. The activity is with teenagers and a few of them have heard the talk that she and Danny are a thing so, of course they're going to make her miserable. Of course.

"I don't know it. Can you demonstrate it with Laura?" One teenager tells Danny while her bunch of friends giggle behind her.

Danny seems happy with the idea but Laura really just wants things to be over already. How can one duty match how tiring her whole week has been? She has never felt more mentally exhausted.

The end of the exercise requires the teens to do some talking among themselves, know why they do or do not trust each other because as Danny says it, ' _t_ _rust is important in any relationship_ '. Laura tries her best not to laugh at the irony of that.

"Laura, Laura, hey!" Danny calls out to her while the teens are busy. "So, how are you doing?"

"Good. Thanks for asking." Laura says, not stopping from going around the teenagers in circles, supervising them while they're sat on the grass.

Danny follows after her. "Right, that's good. Y'know, I've met Perry and LaFontaine. They both are really nice, just like you've said before." She starts. "Can't help but seem uneasy that you're friends with Carmilla though." That strikes a nerve. Laura stops walking to face Danny. "Don't get me wrong but she's just so full of herself. I remember you telling me how you can't stand people like her an-"

The dirty blonde counselor can't believe that she's actually thankful for the teenagers' interruption for once as all of them decided that they're finished cooperating and begin to inform them that the time allotted for the activity is done. Usually Laura protests but now she sends them off, hoping that Danny would stop bugging her about Carmilla.

Of course Danny doesn't. The redhead has always been protective of her and thinks it's her duty to make sure Laura does what she thinks is right and safe. "I really don't understand how you can be friends with her. Obviously she's a show-off and a sarcastic-"

Laura makes sure that no one is anywhere near them before turning once again to the redhead. "Danny, I'm going to have to stop you there because this is crossing boundaries. I said I'll forgive you. Not that you can come back and dictate what I have to do and who I should be friends with." Laura snarls at her.

The tall woman looks surprised at Laura's retort. "I'm just looking out for you. That girl-"

"Has a name and it's Carmilla. She's my friend." Laura cuts Danny off before she can even say anything. "You don't get to judge her because of that one time she told you off, Danny. And for your information, I don't need you to look out for me. I don't need another dad. I got that one covered. How many times do I have to tell that to you?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" Danny finally says. "I just can't help but feel like I want to protect you. I know things aren't great between us but I'm still your friend."

Laura runs her hand through her hair in frustration. "Protect me from who then? Carmilla? Protect me from someone who helped me stop feeling shitty from losing my job and being cheated on by my girlfriend?" She hisses. "If there's anyone I should be wary of being around with, it's _you_." She emphasizes the 'you', making Danny look to the ground. "And yet, you don't see Carmilla nor Perry and LaFontaine trying to pry me away from talking to you because I told them I'm alright. They trust that I can handle myself. They trust me."

Danny remains quiet after that. Laura feels like she's gone too far and she doesn't feel bad about it. It feels like the conversation is over so Laura heads off to her final duty hoping that no one notices how annoyed she is.

 

* * *

 

Laura is _annoyed._

Carmilla notes at the sight of her roommate who is making her way towards the cabin where their last activity for the week will be held. The brunette can practically see smoke coming out of Laura's nose as she stomps on the grass with her eyes on the ground, heading towards the door.

 _What happened?_  Carmilla asks herself, as if she can give an answer to that. Laura looked happy when she last saw her in the mess hall.

The door opens and Laura looks up to meet her gaze. At first, the blonde's eyebrows were furrowed, indicating her mood but, the moment she sees Carmilla looking at her from inside the cabin, the annoyed look on her face turns to confusion. "Carm? What are you doing here? I thought LaFontaine is my partner for this activity?"

She smirks, trying to make it look like she didn't notice anything. "Ginger two had stuff to do in the kitchen all of a sudden and was looking for a substitute. They followed me around until I said yes." Carmilla leaves out the part that the only thing that got her to say yes was when they mentioned that their partner would be Laura.

"Huh." Laura raises an eyebrow. "And you just willingly said yes? Careful Karnstein, your soft side is showing." She smiles.

"You're right. Might as well just leave then." Carmilla jokes, pushing herself off the wall where she had been leaning on to walk towards the door but Laura blocks her path in protest.

She tilts her head only to be met by Laura's pout. "I was just kidding Carmilla."

"Anything bothering you, cupcake?"

Laura sighs exasperatedly at her question. "I thought I am going to be having fun in camp, y'know? And I was until Danny came and now it feels like someone's always following me around again and it's frustrating." The blonde bites her lip in annoyance as she runs her hand through her hair.

Of course it's the giant again. “She was your partner in the activity earlier?” Laura nods. Carmilla actually feels concerned because what if the giant is trying to force Laura to come back to her? "Is she bothering you a lot? I could tell-"

"No Carmilla, it's not that she's bothering me that much but she's just-" Laura pauses, trying to find the right word to use. "She has this tendency to be overprotective of me back then and now, she thinks she still has this duty to do that. It's so annoying.” She groans.

The brunette scowls at that. "Hey, hey, Laura," Carmilla calls Laura's attention at the sight of her roommate's frustration. "Listen, maybe we can ask Ginger One to switch your schedule when Xena is your partner so you don't actually have to interact with her? For now though, it's our last duty for the week then next week, it’s just you and me. Think you can handle that, cutie?"

The blonde heaves a huge sigh and nods. "Thanks Carm." She smiles.

 _Finally,_ Carmilla thinks, relieved that she somehow managed to make Laura smile. “So, what was the giant trying to protect you from anyway? Mosquito bites?”

Before Laura could answer, the kids arrive which means that their duty starts now. Laura laughs at Carmilla's groan and pats her on the shoulder before heading to the front to check the attendance, leaving Carmilla by the door.

“Hi Carmilla.” A small, quiet voice greets her.

The brunette looks down to see Julia entering the room with Shaira and Sheh. Carmilla slightly smiles at them. _You really shouldn't be going soft, Karnstein,_ Carmilla groans after the girls has passed her.

“Okay kiddos.” Laura calls their attention. “Today we're going to make bracelets! Perfect activity to end the week, right?”

Carmilla leans on the doorframe while watching her roommate tell the kids what they can do to the bracelets and how to get the measurements. It's a nice and calm activity, at least if no one starts throwing beads at each other. She smirks, thinking that if she's in the kids' position, she would be the first one to start a bead war. Bracelet making? That's something anyone can do without anyone else instructing them but, hey, who's she to complain? She's a counselor on duty.

“You can make bracelets for your moms and dads when they get here once camp is over and they pick you up from here.” Laura continues explaining. “Everything you need for bracelet making is on the tables.”

The kids move to the tables, everyone trying to figure out what they want their bracelets to look like. Carmilla sees a kid looking at a particularly large bead in his hands before beginning to aim for the girl opposite him. “Anyone caught throwing beads will find the beads they threw in their dinner for the next few weeks so don't even think about it.” She announces then smirks as the boy immediately lowers his hand.

“Carm! You're not supposed to be threatening kids!” Laura hisses to her once she's reached her.

The brunette shrugs. “I'd use the term 'warning' actually.” The smaller girl glares at her and she smirks then feigns a surrender by raising both her hands. “But if someone starts throwing beads at you, don't expect me to help clean up the place.”

Carmilla chuckles as she walks away from a pouting Laura. She sits on an empty chair in between Julia and a girl named Kim. Julia seems more at ease around the others now that she's has friends in the camp now. Shaira and Sheh really looks out for her so she’ll give the two credit for that.

“Carmilla, your wrist.” Shaira tells her and she raises her eyebrow at the child.

“We can be wrong if we guess our parents' measurements but since you're here, we don't have to guess.” Sheh says, followed by a nod from Julia.

Shaira tugs on the hem of Carmilla's shirt. “Whats going on here?” Laura asks.

The three kids all point at Carmilla. “She won't lend us her wrist to use for adults' measurement.” Shaira says.

She feels her roommate's eyes on her. “It's not that hard, Carmilla.” Sheh says before turning to Laura. She holds out a nylon thread in front of her then points Laura's hands.

Laura holds out her arm in front of them. Sheh takes her measurement then adds an adjustment before cutting off the string. “See? That easy.”

Carmilla rolls her eyes, seeing Laura laughing at her. “Fine.” She holds out her arm and Shaira does what Sheh did to Laura.

“Don't forget the extra thread, Shaira.” Julia reminds her.

The girl nods then gets a scissor to cut the thread, her tongue even sticking out of her mouth in her effort to concentrate.

“Okay, you kids have fun making bracelets.” Laura pats their heads, the three girls smiling at the blonde as she walks around to check on the other campers.

Yawning, Carmilla stays beside the girls. Shaira occasionally asks her what she thinks of the bracelets they're making. She glances at Laura once in awhile, checking if she's alright. She seems fine, at least. The activity has taken her mind off of what happened with the giant redhead earlier.

 _What did happen?_ Carmilla hates how concerned she is for her roommate. It's not like she's never cared for anyone before - of course she had. But usually it is out of need: a need to care for others because she is dictated to do so or; a need to care in order to oblige to society's norms. If she will be honest, she's quite apathetic on her own but since she grew up in a setting where she's forced to care about what's going on around her in order for her mother to look good; the media feasting on how great and _perfect_ her family is thanks to her mother's upbringing; Carmilla began to wear the caring mask as it clung to her skin and she hates how pretentious she's been.

But when it comes to Laura, Carmilla genuinely cares and the feeling scares her because it overpowers her will. She actually feels the need to be concerned with her. The last time she cared this much, her heart was broken. Funny how she thought that her heart has learned.

Apparently not.

As usual, the period goes by with Carmilla doing minimal work while her partner does the explaining to the kids. She checks the names of the kids as they went out though, making sure no one managed to leave the activity early.

“Carmilla.” A small voice calls out and the brunette looks down to Julia again who is holding a bracelet with all sorts of different black beads. “Shaira says your favorite color is black so uhm…” She raises her hand to hand the bracelet over.

A bracelet. The counselor looks at it in awe. It's not the prettiest bracelet that she's seen but somehow, a piece of accessory made by a seven year old made her feel warm. As the little girl drops it from her hand to Carmilla's, the older of the two realizes it's not the actual bracelet that gives her the feeling but the thought of Julia spending her time to make one for her even if Laura only mentioned that they should make bracelets for their parents too. Someone caring for you without being asked gives that warm feeling of happiness.

_For the first time, she wants to be the cause of someone's happiness._

Carmilla wears the bracelet, careful so the strings doesn't break and cause the whole thing to fall apart, then smiles at Julia. The little girl really is growing on her. “Thank you very much.” She says, crouching down to hug the little girl.

“No fair Julia, we want hugs from Carmilla too!” Shaira and Sherilyn immediately comes charging at them from behind, almost making Carmilla lose her balance. They hug their counselor as soon they got close to her.

From a distance, Carmilla could hear Laura laughing. “Oh how I wish I can snap a photo Carm.” She teases. “Your soft side is showing again.”

“Shut up.” Carmilla mouths at the tiny woman who only replies with what seems to be the girl's imitation of her smirk. Laura raises her hand to show a colorful bracelet around her wrist then points at the girls who are currently wrapped around Carmilla and she figures that the kids has made the other counselor a bracelet too.

“Miss Laura! Come join the group hug!” Shaira shouts, her mouth near Carmilla's ear. The brunette flinches but sees how Laura reddens on the spot at the kids' request.

“Come here, Miss Laura!” Sherilyn seems to have the same train of thought, hoping that Laura joins the ball of humans on the floor. Even Julia tries to turn her head to look expectantly at Laura.

While seemingly reluctant, Laura kneels down beside Julia, her right knee directly under Carmilla's right shin. Carmilla is thankful for the kids wrapped around her because she swears Laura will be able to feel her heart pounding in her chest. The dirty-blonde leans in, her cheek slightly grazing Carmilla's, as she embraces them.

Carmilla wonders if her jolly roommate knows the effects she has on her.

Trying to keep a straight face while they all pull away is as awkward as Carmilla thought it would be. The kids don't seem to mind it but the two adults obviously do. The brunette clears her throat, thrusting her hands in the pocket of her jeans, hoping she looks like she's cool about it. “Well, you got your hugs.” Carmilla starts, willing her usual smirk back on her face. “How about we start heading to the camping grounds so that you all can rest up?”

Julia nods while the other two kids begins talking about their bracelets. Carmilla ushers them outside, while Laura closes the door to the cabin.

For some reason, Laura is quiet during their walk to the campsite. It’s not the comfortable silence but something lingers in the air - like an elephant in the room that they both refuse to talk about.

“You alright there, creampuff?” Carmilla asks in an attempt to figure out why Laura’s fallen into silence all of a sudden.

“It's nothing Carm.” The blonde says, shaking her head. “Just a bit tired is all.” She adds.

Carmilla nods, letting it go. Laura didn't seem to want to talk about it. “Okay then.” She shrugs, tucking her hands inside her pocket and glancing up at the darkening sky as the night time comes. She clearly must have done something. But what exactly?

“I-I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” Laura suddenly blurts out causing Carmilla to stop on her tracks. She glances at the three kids, seeing that they're near the campsite. Laura looks back at her roommate. “I mean, earlier, you were really stiff after the whole group hug thing that the kids suggested so I thought you're not okay with me being that close to you. Don't get me wrong, it's okay. I mean, it's okay that you're not okay with close proximities with me because, hey personal space and all and not, _it's okay, I don't have any sickness or anything and all_ -.”

Carmilla repeatedly blinks at the tiny girl who continues her babbling. She can't help the sudden laughter that erupts from her chest because _can Laura Hollis get any cuter?_ Laura halts her rapid fire of words to look at the brunette, confused.  “Okay, have I broken you or something?” Laura asks, obviously concerned.

“You thought I was uncomfortable?” Carmilla tilts her head to the side. The blonde gives a small nod. “God, what am I doing?” She bends down, shaking her head as she leans her hands against her knees. “Naive girl, entirely too tightly wound. Such a cliché.” She mumbles, to herself mostly, but audible nonetheless. “Yet,” She raises her head to look up at Laura with a gentle smile on her face. “There's something about you.”

She can see how Laura bites her lip at what she just said. “Is this the part where you tell me you're a vampire and bite me?” The girl asks, chuckling a bit but Carmilla can hear the nervous tone in her voice.

“Depends on what you're into, cupcake.” Laura actually gasps at that, looking at Carmilla with disbelief. “I'm joking. Are you really convinced that I'm a vampire?” Carmilla straightens up and Laura groans at her but steps forward.

“You… You're unbelievable!” Laura huffs but is trying not to smile, hitting her roommate's arm playfully, almost too gentle which makes the brunette chuckle.

“So you've said a couple of times already.” She smiles when Laura raises her hand to hit her once again but she catches it with her hand and lowers it, not letting go. “Just so you know, I'm not uncomfortable around you, Laura. It's actually quite the opposite.”

“Oh.” Was Laura's reply, looking down on their hands. She seems to be formulating what she has to say next but is interrupted by someone calling her name.

“Laura!” It's Danny, to Carmilla's disappointment.

Before tall woman even got to them, the two girls immediately let go of each other and Carmilla steps back, not wanting to put Laura in an awkward position. “Danny.” Laura says, her voice low and annoyed.

“Xena.” Carmilla nods to her.

“Fangface.” The redhead retorts, scowling at her before turning to Laura. “I just noticed you weren't at the campsite yet so I thought I should look for you. Didn't know you're just near the site and with _her._ ” Danny shoots Carmilla a glare.

She raises her hands to her chest and shrugs, much to Danny's chagrin.

“Yeah well, I'm here so,” Laura walks off. “Let's go, Carmilla.”

Carmilla smirks at the sound of her name and follows her roommate, leaving the tall amazon behind.

 

* * *

 

Campfire stories are ridiculous, Carmilla declares to herself after the third horrendous story about made-up monsters in the camp. She's not sure it's a wise decision to scare the kids about the monsters in the camp if they actually want the kids to come back next summer. While tiring, she wouldn't want to see that there are only a few faces back next year.

Carmilla sits up straight, from her previously slumped position under a nearby tree, at the implication that she'll be here again next year. Okay. First, woah. Second, that wasn't her plan! She said one summer and she's done. She'd start actually practicing her art degree (which she took alongside philosophy). Where is this 'I'll-be-back-here' thinking coming from?

“Did you get scared by the scary stories that's why you went far away from there?” Laura drops beside her.

 _'And here she is; where the 'returning-here-next-summer' thoughts are coming from',_ Carmilla tells herself which is ridiculous because she doesn't even know if the dirty blonde woman beside her will be back here next year.

Carmilla rolls her eyes. “Are you seriously asking me that, creampuff?” She raises an eyebrow at Laura who laughs.

“A softie like you would probably be scared of campfire stories.” Laura teases, bumping Carmilla's shoulder with hers.

Carmilla feigns hurt. “Must you always hurt me?” She does the same, bumping Laura on the shoulder. Her roommate laughs at the action. They don't actually separate after that. It's like the contact provided comfort for the both of them.

“Only when you deserve it.” Laura replies, smiling playfully at Carmilla. “You know what, I can’t believe you’re the same person I met during the first day of camp. I was really annoyed with you.”

Carmilla raises an eyebrow at her. “What? I was kind enough to think your little dance with Ginger Two was cute.”

“Ugh.” The blonde groans. “You remember that?”

Carmilla nods, laughing. “How did that go again? _Camp it up?_ ”

“Aww, you liked it so much that you still remember it? Should we teach you the steps, Carm?”

“Shut up.” Carmilla growls at Laura which only makes the girl laugh more at her.

After a while, their laughter subsides and Laura sighs, making the brunette look at her. “What a day.” She murmurs, yawning.

Nodding her head, Carmilla looks back at the campfire where the kids are still gathered around. “Yeah. Not surprised that you’re exhausted. You’ve been out since 6 AM. Not to mention the whole-”

“Fleeing from the ex scene? Yeah, I know. It’s just really complicated with Danny here but, I think I can live with it.” Laura chuckles, then sighs. “Hey Carm?” Carmilla only hums in reply. “Thanks for all you’ve done for me today.” She mumbles then yawning once more.

The brunette tilts her head to look at Laura properly. “Wow, twice in a row, cupcake.” She says, nudging her roommate by the shoulders again. “Come on, let’s head back. You need to rest.” Carmilla stands up then offers her hand out to Laura who grabs it. She pulls her roommate up and the two of them make their way back to the cabin.

“I sure am glad this week’s over. Getting sunburnt is a pain. ”

“Shut up Carm, you were barely outside. You only had two outdoor activities this week. Plus, you were wearing long sleeves.”

“Wow. Someone’s been paying attention to me a lot.”

“You’re delusional. Sleep it off Karnstein.”

“You bet I will. I’m exhausted.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go, I didn't have this one beta'd because I immediately posted it as soon as I finished so, I apologize too for the mistakes in there. I won't say when I'll update next time but hopefully, I get it done immediately I mean, *eyes the chapter 10 plan I've written on a paper* I've got that already. So yeah, see you next time!


	10. Talk It Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10, in which Carmilla and Laura need to talk because they're so into each other. And they do, eventually. It gets deep.
> 
> TW: mentions of emotional abuse, hints of physical abuse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's updating late again? ME! That's right! I don't know why I can't keep up with it anymore. I swear I managed updating weekly for like, 4 chapters. I'm really sorry for the wait.
> 
> Have this chapters that's longer than usual. I hope you'll like it!

The weekend goes by without so much of a problem. Laura spent most of her time inside the cabins to minimize the chances of bumping into Danny. Carmilla lent her a book on philosophy which she tried to read for at least two and a half hours until she decided to put it back on Carmilla’s bed because, wow, those are deep and she doesn’t really want to think about how _one makes rational decisions within an irrational universe._

That was one of the easiest to understand though.

Carmilla, on the other hand, decided that she should be asleep 50% of the day. She’d be awake by noon. She and Laura talked during those times. Nothing personal on Carmilla’s part, just casual discussions about the camp, the kids, their co-workers. Laura did tell her about her work back then and maybe shared a bit about her dad.

There was still that brief moment they had after their last duty - before Danny came to find Laura - that they haven’t really talked about yet. Yes, they have established that they’re comfortable around each other but Laura really wants to ask what Carmilla meant when she said there’s something about her. Not that she’s stressing over it.

Totally not stressing over it.

But it really wouldn’t hurt to know.

When they did go out of the cabins to go to the mess hall though, Laura stuck close to her friends, doing her best to avoid Danny who seemed to have gotten her own set of friends now. The tall woman had always been a social butterfly so, she’s not surprised.

Speaking of which, Laura realized that she only has one more duty with Danny for the rest of the summer. While Carmilla actually brought up the topic of changing schedules, Laura decided against it and says that she can handle it.

And again, she and Carmilla would go back to their cabin after wandering around. Laura suggested that the two of them should do the rounds together next week; to which Carmilla replied with: “I like that plan, cutie.”

Before she knew it, it’s Monday once again and Laura’s up even before the bugle call wakes everyone from their sleep.

She did sleep at 9 PM sharp last night so she guesses waking up at 5:30 in the morning is just fine. Laura sits up from her bed, deciding that she should probably get dressed for duties today. After a full packed schedule last week, Laura’s glad that she and Carmilla only have attendance sheet collecting and night round duties this week.

Laura stands up then heads straight to the bathroom to get ready.

The shower drain isn’t full of hair for once. Looks like Carmilla cleaned it out without her knowing. She takes off her clothes and steps in the shower.

To say that she’s not extremely glad that she can spend time with Carmilla a lot this week would be a huge lie. While Perry and LaFontaine are her best friends, she longs to connect with someone the way the two connect with each other. For some reason, she feels like she can have that with Carmilla…

… which really scares her because how can she have this much attachment to someone she knew for just nearly three weeks now? _Laura, I swear you’re an idiot at times._ What baffles Laura the most is that she was sure Carmilla’s the roommate from hell during their first few days in camp. How did it end up like this?

In her defense though, Carmilla is making it hard for Laura to not like her so much and she hates how Carmilla makes her feel like she reciprocates the feeling.

_“You deserve the special treatment.”_

_“There’s something about you.”_

What does that even mean? She has pondered about this _way_ too much but she haven’t got a clue what her roommate meant by it. It doesn’t help that the brunette speaks 80% sarcasm (okay, maybe 50% when it comes to her, Laura tells herself).

This isn’t meant to happen but here she is, crushing hard on her roommate that she barely even knew while her ex-girlfriend is still chasing her around.

Maybe LaFontaine was right. It is highly possible that the only reason she believed that she was still in love with Danny the whole time before their breakup was because of normalcy. Truth be told, she was sick of how controlling Danny was and how she tends to decide for Laura; but the mindset that the tall redhead had always been like that had sunk in. Laura knew her that much that even though they argue about it a lot, she continued to forgive Danny at the end of the day.

 _Falling out of love is a sad thing,_ Laura tells herself. Everything that she had been doing out of the want and need to be together with the one she loves, _loved,_ just became a routine - something she’d do because she got used to doing it. She’d say ‘I love you’ without even realizing that the meaning behind it has changed and; kiss her because she knew it’s something couples do.

She really needs to sort this out with Danny. Like, _seriously_.

As soon as Laura gets out of the shower and gets dressed, she leaves the bathroom only to find Carmilla still sleeping. She decides not to wake her roommate up and heads out of the cabin. It’s still a bit dark and she figures she’d go for a nice morning stroll.

A few minutes into her walk, she reaches the path to the lakeside where she stops when she realizes that she’s not the only one awake for a morning walk.

“Danny,”

The tall woman is in her jacket, shorts and jogging pants. Laura has forgotten how Danny usually jogs every morning if she’s free from work. She thinks this may be fate presenting the opportunity to her.

“Good morning, Laura,” Danny reluctantly greets.

The blonde takes in a deep breath then nods her head at Danny. “Listen,” Laura starts, tucking her hands in her camp hoodie. “We need to talk.”

 

* * *

 

 

Carmilla wakes up with a jolt after hearing the _god forsaken_ trumpets. On her third week, she thought she should be used to it by now but no, she still gets startled by the annoying sound that is the wake up bugle.

The first thing she notices is that Laura isn’t just up already but is nowhere to be seen. She is obviously not in the bathroom because the bathroom door is slightly ajar. The fact that the first thing she does after waking up is to look for Laura is highly concerning, in her opinion.

Speaking of Laura, Carmilla can’t help the small smile that makes its way on her lips as she remembers the events that had happened yesterday with her roommate. Last night, specifically. The two of them were having a small chat while lying on their beds, just passing time until one of them falls asleep. She did not miss the way Laura sleepily mumbles “ _I’m glad you’re here Carmilla”_ before dozing off. Laura was so sleepy, she doubts Laura even remembers telling her that. Still, Carmilla is sure that her roommate said it and the way her heart pounds so hard on her chest after remembering Laura's words - like it did last night before she fell asleep - is really saying something.

 _Count on Carmilla to get a stupid crush on her roommate,_ the brunette mocks herself as she stands up, shaking her head and going to the bathroom.

She looks back at the day Mattie told her that their mother asked her to go here. She absolutely loathed the idea. Carmilla Karnstein does not babysit. Plus, why on earth does she have to do this? Usually, she obeys her mother's orders without question because questioning it always ends terribly but to apply as a counselor in a summer camp? That's a bit suspicious. But when Mattie mentioned that ‘ _Mother wishes to know that camp’s condition because she thinks it will be beneficial for the company to support the owners.’_ Carmilla figured it is one of her mother's pretentious charity thing again. Still, she absolutely had no plans of going until Mattie said that after this, their mother will finally allow her to practice what she studied for - art and philosophy.

Carmilla was sure she was going to hate every minute of this but one Laura Hollis comes into the picture and she finds herself actually enjoying.

And wow, can she be any more disgusting? Just the thought of Laura makes her smile? This is bad. Really bad. She does not do crushes, attachment or feelings.

Not anymore at least.

But then again, for once maybe she can loosen up. Maybe - a hopeful maybe - Laura really is worth a shot.

After taking a bath, Carmilla gets dressed and heads out to the mess hall. She is greeted by a few campers on the way and she greets them back with a nod (and if that kid has been good to her, a small smile).

Entering the mess hall, she sees Perry talking to some kids, probably asking them how they are. The curly-haired woman does that everyday, always making sure that the kids slept well and that they are alright. She really likes this job.

LaFontaine on the other hand, was busy handing out food as usual, being in charge of the kitchen and all. Volunteer campers are helping them out.

Meanwhile on their seats, Kirsch’s head is resting on the wooden table while JP is looking at the wall with a tired look on his face.

“Morning,” Carmilla greets them.

“Good morning Carmilla,” JP nods his head at her. Kirsch barely moves, only raises his hand to wave at her. Carmilla raises an eyebrow at that. “Sorry about him.” JP straightens up from his seat. “We haven’t gotten much sleep after a kid from the boys cabin reported that there’s been rustling outside their cabins at 2AM. Kirsch and I didn’t wish to wake anyone up so we went on patrol.”

Hearing this, Carmilla nods and sits down opposite of JP. “And did you discover what the rustling was?”

JP sighs then shakes his head. “Not exactly, but we’ve found animal tracks so we think it’s just a dog,” he replies, clasping his hands together on top of the table. “We’ve reported to Perry so she asked us to go on watch again tonight with the other counselors assigned for night duty to see what that might be and to find how it got in so she excused us from our duties today, said she’d handle it.”

“Huh,” Carmilla hums, nodding her head. “Laura and I are in charge tonight.”

Kirsch’s head shoots up. Carmilla pictures an excited puppy in her head. “Dude, that’s cool!” He raises his hand, expecting a high-five from Carmilla but she only stares at him, frowning. Kirsch pats her head instead which makes Carmilla growl at him.

“Anyway, speaking of Laura, have you seen her?” Both men shake their heads.

Carmilla sighs, resting her chin on her palm. LaFontaine has already started serving the food and still no signs of Laura around. She is about to go find her when the door to the mess hall opens and in comes Laura… and Danny.

The first thing that Carmilla notices is that they nod and smile at each other, Laura patting Danny by the arm and the giantess waving at her before separating. They don’t seem to have that awkward atmosphere around them as well.

Is this a sign that she shouldn’t have raised her hopes up?

Maybe.

Or, another maybe - maybe she shouldn’t assume about things?

Either way, she doesn’t like the hard pounding of her heart in her chest.  

“You okay, lady bro?” Kirsch asks, taking Carmilla’s attention off of Laura who is now making her way towards them. “Why the frown?”

“I’m not frowning,” Carmilla grunts.

“Good morning!” Laura greets them, sitting down next to Carmilla. Both JP and Kirsch nods at her with a smile, their mouth too full to talk. It is only then that Carmilla notices that they’ve got food on their table.

The brunette gives her a small nod before taking a bite of her toast. “What? Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed?” Laura nudges her side.

“Hmm,” Carmilla replies.

“You okay, Carm?” Laura looks over to her, tilting her head.

There is this unsettling feeling in Carmilla that really is making her _not_ okay but she nods at Laura anyway. “Yeah, just need coffee or something.” Carmilla stands up. “I’m going to ask for some in the kitchen.”

She enters the kitchen, easily spotting LaFontaine. They look at her curiously. “I’m going to make coffee.” Carmilla points the coffee maker.

“Yeah sure,” LaFontaine shrugs. “The coffee’s on the third layer of the shelf on the right.”

She spends a few minutes contemplating whether she’s acting dumb towards the whole Laura and Danny situation while waiting for the coffee.

It’s actually dumb on her part because this is a mess, really. Why even should she feel like this? Like she’s _jealous_?

( _You’re no fool, Carmilla, you know the reason)._

Yes, she does know why she’s acting the way she is but should she really act on what she feels? Obviously, there’s a lot of problems here; and while she keeps telling herself that it’s worth it, a huge part of her brain still contests and makes her have doubts.

Maybe, seeing Laura and Danny earlier is fate’s way of sending a message.

_Fate is cruel then._

Carmilla shakes her head because this is her, jumping into conclusions. Who knows what really transpired between her roommate and Xena.

A loud thud near her catches her attention. She looks to the ground to see a woman who appears to be a camp staff on the floor a few feet away from her. “Ouch…” The girl with the jet black hair mumbles, rubbing her rear with her hand.

She seems to come in through the backdoor. The girl was trying to drag this box that contains the new ingredients from the garden to the kitchen. Carmilla looks around to see if someone’s helping her but no one seems to be around other than her.

She sighs.

“You need help with those?”

 

* * *

 

 

Laura doesn’t see Carmilla for the rest of the breakfast period.

“I saw her helping Taylor bring in ingredients from the garden.” LaFontaine tells her when Laura came by to get the attendance sheet for the outdoor games activity that LaF is in charge of.

Carmilla helping someone. That’s new.

Not that Carmilla’s rude or not capable of helping someone - Laura tells herself - the girl just isn’t used to Carmilla actually being nice to someone else other than her.

Not that Carmilla should only be nice to her.

_“You deserve the special treatment.,”_

Her roommate’s words echo in her head and Laura tries not to be bothered by the question playing in her mind.

_Does she deserve the special treatment too?_

She groans, slapping her forehead with her hand as she walks back to the main cabin from collecting her part of the attendance sheets. She really tried not to be bothered by it.

She just can’t help but feel slightly disappointed that Carmilla didn’t even say a word to her besides that she’ll get some coffee then didn’t come back.

Not that Carmilla had to report every single thing she does to Laura.

_Wow, this is so conflicting._

Laura is aware of the fact that she feels jealous; she is also aware that she should not be.

She’s getting attached to Carmilla - that’s one thing - but actually feeling jealous over a simple gesture that the girl she’s crushing on did for someone else is another.

_Crush? What am I, twelve?_

But there really is no other way to say it. She has a crush. And honestly, once people get to know Carmilla, who wouldn’t? She’s caring, funny, beautiful, protective- Laura could go on for hours.

Just as Laura’s about to enter the main cabin, she sees Carmilla walking out of the door, carrying a small potted plant - a cactus, if Laura’s not mistaken. “Hey,” Laura calls, raising her hand that’s not holding the attendance sheets.

Carmilla nods. “Hey,” she replies. Laura takes note that it’s been awhile since the two of them felt awkward around each other.

“So, uh, what do you have there?” Laura eyes the cactus.

The brunette shrugs. “A gift from one of the camp staff in charge of the garden. I sort of helped her earlier during breakfast since the other staff ran off complaining about stomach pain. Left her alone carrying boxes from the garden to the kitchen.” Carmilla looks down on her shoe. “I’m heading back to our cabin to put this there… somewhere.”

“Ah,” She mumbles, nodding her head. “Hey, maybe-”

“I’ll see you later,” Carmilla interrupts her then walks off towards their cabin.

Okay, what was that? Laura continues looking at her direction, wondering what is going on with her. Carmilla feels distant, if she will allow herself to jump into conclusions.

She won’t.

Maybe she just needs space because she is still under the weather from _waking up on the wrong side of the bed,_ as Laura said earlier.

She was going to suggest that they walk back together but seeing that Carmilla has left already, Laura proceeds to the main cabin.

Upon entering, Laura sees Hester putting some papers inside a drawer. “Laura,” Hester says when she sees her.

“Hey Hester,” Laura greets, smiling then walking to the counter, handing the attendance sheets to the older woman.

“Laura, I’m really sorry,” Hester starts, placing a hand on Laura’s. “Lola told me about Danny. If I had known, I wouldn’t have accepted her as a counselor.”

She wonders how much Perry has told her mother. “It’s alright,” Laura tells her. She feels Hester squeeze her hand slightly and she smiles at the gesture. “If anything, I think having her here made me realize some things. I really shouldn’t have ran away from my problem back in the city.”

Hester smiles at her. “Well, I’m not really a fan of confronting problems head on myself, dear, but I am glad I was able to provide you a place to run to.”

Laura looks around the main cabin and nods. “Silas has always provided that safe haven for me.” There is a sadness that makes her smile sadly at Hester.

On her third year of going to Silas, when she was eleven years old, her mother wasn’t there anymore during drop-off day. Since then, every drop-off day had been painful because she sees all these mothers and fathers hugging their children but she only had her dad with her. She really did not feel like going back to summer camp after her mom died but her dad insisted that she went. She is thankful for it because it turned out that Silas was one of those places that she could call ‘home’ back then.

Truth be told, she feels really bad now that she didn’t visit the place anymore after she went off to university. Not that anyone seems to be holding a grudge against her but still, LaFontaine and Perry stayed. She could have too but she focused more on her studies and career. But sure enough, her best friends understand her so there really no need to feel guilty but she still does anyway.

Even with that said, she is happy that the opportunity to come back to Camp Silas to meet with her old friends came.

“By the way, not to be nosy dear but speaking of Danny.” Hester leans on the counter. Laura gives her a questioning look. “Danny was here a few minutes before you arrived. Asked her how she was and she mentioned something about the two of you talking things out and how you both are good now.”

Laura nods. “Yeah, I’ve told her how I really felt and it’s great to get that off my chest.”

“So you’re giving her another chance then?” Hester tilts her head, an eyebrow raised at Laura.

“No!” Laura clarifies, surprised that she reached a much higher pitch of her voice than usual, because when she thought about it, she did make it sound like she had given Danny another chance. “I just told her that if we’d be friends, we need to be on the same page, you know? Like, _really_ just as friends.” Hester smiles at her, nodding and giving her the ‘I-understand’ look.

“I’m glad you worked it out then.”

“Yeah…” Laura lets out a sigh when she remembered that yes, she and Danny were okay now and that’s good but then there’s Carmilla and she’s still not going to assume but something really does seem off with Carmilla today.

Laura ponders on it on her way back to their cabin. She knows how dumb it is that she’s reacting over this.

It doesn’t help that she doesn’t see Carmilla for the rest of the morning period because right now, she’s 75% convinced that Carmilla is avoiding her. She was not in the cabin when she got back, she didn’t see her on the way to the main cabin after collecting the attendance sheets from the her part of the activities and Kirsch, who’s lounging outside the mess hall said that _’lady bro’s been rushing all over the place just to get her work done and walked off somewhere’._

So naturally, being the worrier she is, Laura has concluded that yes, Carmilla is indeed avoiding her.

Carmilla doesn’t drop by the cabin and she only leaves when it’s time for lunch. She also doesn’t go to the mess hall.

 

* * *

 

 

Overreacting. Carmilla’s overreacting and she knows this. She shouldn’t but she just does and it’s so stupid. She’s so stupid.

She’s been avoiding Laura the whole day like she’s got some contagious illness; which to her is simply just delaying the inevitable. She doesn’t know how she’ll react once Laura tells her that she got back with Danny.

Carmilla doesn’t even know if they really did get back together and she’s just thinking that the two did but still, she can’t help but feel like she needs to ready herself first.

“God I’m an idiot,” She mumbles to no one in particular as she walks to the direction of the lake. “Of all the people Carmilla, of course you’d chose the one who’s just broken up with an ex-girlfriend and is now probably back together. Good job, you idiot.”

“Language.”

Carmilla almost jumps after hearing the voice. She turns around to see Julia, holding her DS, while Sherilyn and Shaira were looking at her with bunched up faces, clearly not happy with her language. The three of them were following her. “You three,” She breathes, clutching her chest. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be eating lunch?”

Julia shrugs and looks down at her feet. “Not hungry,” she tells the counselor.

“We finished lunch real quick and now, we’re off for an adventure!” Shaira announces but is quickly hushed by Sherilyn who raises a finger to her lips and shushes her best friend.

Julia tilts her head to the side, looking at Carmilla. “Are you okay?”

The brunette shrugs before looking at Julia, wondering what she should say. “I think I just need some air. To clear my mind, you know?” She responds, hoping that the little girl would understand.

Julia seems to do so as she only nods. “Where are you going then?” She asks.

“I was thinking of sitting on the docks by the lake.” Carmilla looks at Julia and smiles slightly.

“That sounds fun!”

“I wanna go to the lake!”

Hearing the exclaiming kids, Carmilla can’t help but sigh. She’ll get in trouble if she allows them to skip lunch without permission. “If you’re not hungry then, do you want to come with me?”

She’s getting in trouble alright.

And that is how Carmilla finds herself looking at the lake with Julia, Shaira and Sherilyn on the first day of her third week in Camp Silas. Shaira and Sherilyn are too busy running around the dock.

“You two be careful!” She shouts after them, rolling her eyes when all she gets in reply are giggles from the two.

Truth be told, she’s been looking forward to this week because she has less duties and more time to spend with Laura but it looks like that would not happen.

She really needs to get over this stupid crush she has on her roommate because this is, like how she described it, _stupid_. She wonders how many times she called herself that since this morning. A little too much already, probably.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

Carmilla looks at Julia who is gazing at the water. “Okay.”

“How do you make friends?”

Wow, Carmilla is not prepared for that. She sits at the edge of the dock next to Julia. “I’m not sure if I’m credible enough to answer that.”

“What’s credible?”

Ah, right, she is speaking to a six year old. “Let’s just say that I’m not good at making friends too.” Carmilla shrugs.

The little girl looks at her curiously. “But you’re really good friends with Laura,” Julia does not ask this. It’s more of an observation on her part.

“Yeah well,” the counselor sighs. “Laura is just really good around people. You’ve seen her. She’s incredible.”

Julia nods and looks back at the lake. “I wish I had a best friend.”

“You’ve got Shaira and Sheh though,” Carmilla reminds her.

“I know, but sometimes it’s just the two of them and I watch.” The brunette knows what she means. Even right now, it’s as if Julia is like a bystander while the two are wrapped up in their own world. “Like you and Laura.”

Julia feels more like she’s just an outsider rather than a part of the friendship. Carmilla understands because Sheh and Shaira are two years older than Julia. Plus, they’ve been friends for who knows how long. It’s no wonder why Julia would feel that way. But she truly believes that the two girls want to befriend her. It’s just that Julia probably doesn’t see it.

Carmilla might know why she doesn’t.

“You know I’m your friend, right?” She pats the girl's head which somehow gets a smile out of Julia. Carmilla then remembers Julia’s comment about her and Laura and she smiles sadly. “Now, as for what you said about Laura and I, I don’t think we’re have the same level of friendship like those two have.” Carmilla lets her mind wander briefly. “Though if you are asking for advices on how to make friends, Laura is definitely your go-to person.”

“Go-to person with what?”

Carmilla turns around to look behind to see Laura approaching them. She stops a few feet away from them though, as if she’s afraid to enter the space Carmilla’s in. “Hey.” She awkwardly raises a hand to greet them before quickly lowering then rubbing it against the side of her pants.

“Hey,” Carmilla greets, trying to sound as casual as she can and nodding at Laura before looking at Julia.

There is an awkward pause that hangs in the air. Carmilla sighs and Laura mirrors her. “You’re lucky Perry’s a bit busy or else she’d be freaked out once she notices three kids and two counselors are not in the mess hall.” Laura offers as an explanation as if she really does think she’s intruding.

The brunette nods. “We all just bumped into each other, really.” Carmilla says gesturing over to Julia. “And she was just asking how to make friends and I thought, it’ll be better to ask you since, you know,  you’re exceptionally good at it.” She says, trying to make Laura feel less tense.

It does seem to help relieve some tension off them because Laura smiles and she relaxes a bit. “Oh,” she nods. “Well, I don’t know what Carmilla told you but I’m not good at it.” She side-eyes Carmilla who smirks at her. “You just need to be nice and just be you, I guess?” Laura offers. “To be honest, I don’t really know or remember how I became friends with most people because it just happens. It’s like, you just have to wait for the right person who will want to be with you as much as you want to be with them.”

Carmilla sees Julia nod but she still looks unsure so she pats the little girl’s shoulder. “That person will come. Or, maybe they’re just around here somewhere.” The brunette nods over to Shaira and Sherilyn’s direction.  At this, the girl smiles slightly at the both of them.

It is by then that Carmilla notices Laura looking at her wristwatch. It looks like it’s time for them to go back. “You know, we really should start heading back before Perry notices that you’re all gone.” Laura tells them.

Julia does not need any more convincing because somehow, it feels like the little girl is feeling much more comfortable, thanks to Laura. That, and that she might be afraid to get scolded by Perry. Carmilla, on the other hand, yawns and stretches her arms upward while still sitting down. “Looks like my plan to sleep the day away has been spoiled.” She mumbles to no one in particular.

She hears her roommate giggle at this. “Come on, Carm.”

 

* * *

 

 

While the walk back to the camp isn’t exactly uncomfortable, it’s a bit too silent for Laura’s liking. Plus, she still has no idea if Carmilla was intentionally avoiding her earlier this morning.

Sure, her roommate seems okay right now but something is really off with her.

Julia’s walking in the middle of Shaira and Sherilyn. It may not seem like it now but Laura believes that the two girls might just be the friend Julia needs because the two are clearly interested in letting her in. She just need to open up to them too.

Laura thinks back to what she said to Julia earlier and can’t help but wonder about herself and Carmilla. Maybe Carmilla doesn’t want to be around her as much as she wants to be with Carmilla? She purses her lips in dismay at the thought.

“She’s a pretty deep thinker for a six year old,” Carmilla comments out of the blue, causing Laura’s attention to shift to the woman walking beside her. “The feeling of separation does that.”

Laura raises an eyebrow. “Separation?” Carmilla nods, not really looking at her but at the kids instead.

“She still feels like she doesn’t belong. That feeling of being around people yet it’s like you’re just physically there but you’re not making any connections with anyone,” The counselor explains. “I feel like she longs for that connection.”

Laura watches the three girls interact and remembers her days in the camp with Perry and LaFontaine. It really was awkward at first since they were two people who really knew each other already as opposed to her who barely knew anything about them.

“But Shaira and Sherilyn look like they want to be friends with her,” Laura points out.

Carmilla seems to agree because she nods once again. “Yes, but I don’t think Julia can feel it.” She tucks her hands inside her pockets. “Growing up in a place where you’re around other people yet you never feel any belongingness tends to be confusing.

Everyday, you’re just stuck there wondering if there’s something wrong with you. You ponder on why you can’t fit in and why you’re ignored. You doubt when people come close to you because you’ve never actually felt wanted. All you can think about is if they’re interacting with you because it’s the polite thing to do or if they just need something from you.”

Hearing this from her makes Laura’s heart feel heavy. She gets it. She gets what Carmilla is saying because she has noticed that there had been something off with Julia’s parents from the start but she did not actually see it this way - the way Carmilla is seeing it.

And from what Laura has observed, Carmilla might really be onto something because she’s seen how Julia reacts around others. There’s a look of genuine fear in her eyes when she thinks she’s going to get yelled at; the way she is surprised when she sees that other people are talking to her; the fact that she doubts her friendship with Shaira and Sherilyn.

“She thinks she’s unwanted,” Laura says this in a whisper, looking at Carmilla who nods.

They don’t talk for the rest of the way back. Laura wants to do something for the little girl, just to make sure she feels that she belongs and she is absolutely sure that Carmilla is thinking the same.

Come to think of it, from the very start, Carmilla has a soft spot for the girl. She’s a lot more gentle around Julia - as if she is aware of what’s going on in Julia’s head. It’s like - Laura stops on her tracks at the realization.

“We should hurry, cupcake. The activities are about to start.” Carmilla reminds her.

“Carmilla,” Laura calls her out. Her roommate stops and turns to look at her. “You know I like being with you, right?”

The way Carmilla’s face goes through a series of facial expressions - from confusion, to understanding, to appreciation - Laura cannot help but smile. “Thank you,” she says in a whisper, her voice gentle and her eyes conveying so much emotion.

Maybe things between them will be alright after all.

 

* * *

 

 

Of course Perry realizes they’re gone. Laura tries to take the blame but Carmilla takes it instead. She would not let Laura get in trouble for something she is not supposed to be reprimanded for. She takes the blame by saying that Laura just went to the lake to find them. In Carmilla’s defense, it is more like she just supervised the kids when they left but she does not say that. She lets Perry say that ‘it’s irresponsible’ and ‘the right thing to do is to escort them back’ but she makes sure that the Julia, Sherilyn and Shaira are already in their activities so they won’t feel guilty.

Carmilla apologizes and says it will not happen again. Perry lets it go and tells her that it is fine as long as she stays true to her word.

The redhead counselor leaves her and Laura together to gather the attendance sheets for the rest of the day.

“Wow,” Laura starts, looking at Carmilla with her head tilted to the side. “You took that a lot better than what I imagined. I was worried you were gonna unleash the mistress of snark at Perry.”

She smirks at the blonde, crossing her arms. “I see you’ve been imagining me, huh, creampuff?” Carmilla sees her roommate blush at this. “I wonder what other situations you’ve been imagining me in.”

“Shut up Carm,” Laura says, rolling her eyes at her though Carmilla can tell that she is holding back a smile. “So... since you blew me off this morning with you being ‘grumpy pants’ and all -”   Laura looks at her sheepishly. “I thought maybe we should go do our duties together. After all, I’ve been meaning to tell you something since earlier.”

There it is, Carmilla thinks. It will be cruel of her to keep on ignoring Laura, especially after seeing how distressed she was about it when she saw her and the kids by the lake. She might as well just hear this. “Yeah sure. And, I’m sorry about earlier,” she apologizes. “Not my proudest moment.”

Laura nods. The two of them start walking towards their cabin to get the list of afternoon activities today. “Are you feeling okay now?”

“Yeah,” Carmilla says, tucking her hands inside her pocket. “You were saying you had something to tell me?”

The brunette gulps because she might as well just get over it. If Laura’s back with Danny, good for her. She will just start to distance herself. It is just a stupid crush after all. She will get over it.

The thought makes her chest tighten.

“I was out for a walk this morning in case you didn’t notice.”

Of course she noticed.

“And while I was at it, I bumped into Danny.”

She knew that too.

“And you know what? I thought it was going to be awkward but I managed to talk to her and I’m really happy that I did.”

_Here it comes._

“We’re okay now -”

_She’s going to say that they’re back together._

“- and we officially broke up now.”

“I’m happy for the two of you,” Carmilla says quickly without even processing what Laura just said. She has said it over and over in her head to ready her response once Laura has told her the news. She did not even notice that she has been holding her breath while Laura was talking. When she finally processed what Laura just said, Carmilla looks at her in confusion. “You’ve broken up?”

“Why do you look so surprised?”

This is great and she’s just so stupid, Carmilla thinks. How many hours has she been stressing over this?

“Are you that happy that we broke up?” Laura asks and Carmilla realizes that she stopped walking and is smiling.

She fakes a cough and catches up with Laura who has an eyebrow raised at her. “No.” A pause. “Wait, I mean, yes, I’m happy -” Carmilla then shakes her head. “- for you.” The brunette adds as an afterthought.

Wow, she needs to regain her composure.

“How did the giant take it?”

Laura then explains how she felt that she was being a bit unfair to Danny after all the effort she’s gone through just to talk to her. She just had give the redhead the closure they both know they need. Apparently, Danny didn’t need much convincing that it was over. Laura does not mention why that is the case though.

“How about you?”

Carmilla raises an eyebrow as they both step into their cabin.”What about me?”

“What’s with you and that girl from this morning?”

Should she assume that Laura is talking about Taylor then? “What about us?” Carmilla smirks at her.

Laura sits on her bed as she watches Carmilla crouch down by the mini fridge at the corner of the cabin. “I heard you’ve been incredibly kind to her.”

She brings out a pitcher of water and pours water in two glasses. “I’m kind.” She smirks at Laura, giving a glass of water to her. Still, the blonde pouts at her and she laughs. “That was an act of boredom rather than kindness.”

“We could have hung out if you were so bored.” Laura grumbles, her lips still pressed on the glass.

There’s a pounding in Carmilla’s chest that makes her catch her breath. She sits next to Laura on her bed, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees for support, as she looks at Laura sideways, still with the smirk on her lips. “Could it be that you’re jealous, sweetheart?” Laura refuses to look at her and continues to drink her water. “Should I take that as a yes?” She laughs, downing her water before standing up and placing it in their sink.

“Shut up Carm.” Laura glares playfully at her.

“I hear no denial there creampuff.”

Carmilla turns and sees Laura smiling as she holds the now empty glass of water out to her. She frowns at Laura. “Come on, you help someone carry loads of stuff to the kitchen but you can’t help me with this one?” Laura smirks. She groans and rolls her eyes but still takes the glass and places it in the sink beside hers, to Laura’s amusement. “Oh, you’re so kind.”

“Ha ha,” Carmilla says in a sarcastic tone. “Come on, creampuff. We’ve got attendance sheets to collect.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Lady bro, little nerd.”

Laura raises her hand and smiles at Kirsch who exits the mess hall with an apple in hand. Carmilla, on the other hand, nods at him while sat on the rails of the mess hall’s veranda. JP follows Kirsch outside shortly, holding what seems to be a map.

“We’ve covered the grounds near the kids’ cabins and the camp grounds and there were no breaches on the fence there-” JP starts placing the map on the railings beside Carmilla. “- so you two,” He gestures both Laura and Carmilla. “patrol around there and try to stay away from the fence near the hill and lake. Kirsch and I will be there to look if there are any holes on the fence.”

“Okay bro,” Kirsch says, biting into his apple. “You two still be careful, okay? We know whatever’s been walking around here at night is probably just a dog but we don’t know for sure.”

Laura wonders how that was possible. If there had been a dog wandering around the camp at night, surely the staff would have seen them by now? They have been patrolling during the night after all so surely, they should have seen it.

“You two beefcakes just scream if you get too scared once you come across a ghost, okay?” Carmilla chuckles, getting down from the railing.

“You wish, dude.” Kirsch scoffs at her and she laughs. He holds out a fist at Carmilla who scowls at him.

“I’m not doing it.”

“Come on.”

“Leave me alone.”

“I’m not leaving until you do it.”

Carmilla groans at this and bumps her fist with Kirsch’s.

“Laura,” JP walks over to her and holds out a radio. “Perry suggested we use this to communicate.” Laura takes the radio from him and nods. “Let us know if you see anything.”

“Will do, JP.” Laura hooks the radio to her belt.

“Right,” JP bashfully smiles at her. He looks over at Kirsch who is trying to ruffle Carmilla’s hair - Carmilla doing her best to keep the gigantic hand from even touching her head. “Oi, Kirsch. Time to go.”

“Okay!” He smiles widely then waves at her and Carmilla. He and JP walks towards the foot of the near the lake.

“You two are adorable.” Laura comments.

“I’m gonna stop you there because I might start vomiting, cupcake.”

She laughs because Carmilla pouting reminds her of that grumpy cat that the internet seems to love so much. “Well, come on then. We better start patrolling the grounds.”

Turning their flashlights on, the two of them makes their way towards the cabins.

“You know, the night would be much more fun if we find that dog instead,” Carmilla grumbles, looking around the path.

“We’re not even sure if it really is a dog,” Laura reminds her. “You know, there’s a ghost story that was passed around back when we were still campers here.”

Her roommate raises an eyebrow at her. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. They said that the person who owned this land before was an old man who lived alone in a cabin in the forest. They said he died in his sleep but his spirit never realized he’s dead.

When Perry’s great grandfather claimed the land, they disturbed the peace of the old man’s soul. And so he’s been haunting this land ever since,” Carmilla chuckles, to Laura’s surprise. “Carm! It’s not nice to laugh at the dead spirits!”

“I’m not, cupcake.” She shakes her head. “It’s just that; unless the old man has paws as feet, I’m sure he’s not our culprit.”

Well, Laura can’t really argue with that logic since Kirsch did mention that they saw paw prints. “I’m just, you know, wondering about the possibilities.”

“Do you believe in ghosts?”

“I don’t know.” Laura shrugs then laughs. “When I was a kid, I wished they were real though.” She glances at her roommate who is looking at her curiously. “Okay, you see, I grew up mostly with my mom. My dad’s a doctor so he’s often at the hospital. My mom on the other hand usually stayed at home. She’s rather sickly  when I was really young. That didn’t stop her from baking me cookies and taking really good care of me. She also told me a lot of stories. I looked up to her so much.  As I grew up, she eventually got better, thanks to the medications my Dad prescribed her.

But one day, she fell really ill. We had no idea what happened. It was so sudden and my Dad tried and tried to look for something, _anything_ , to cure whatever it was she had. She was taken to the hospital then, after a few days, she just went. I didn’t understand why she had to go so sudden. I wanted to talk to her still; ask her if she’s alright, wherever she is. My Dad’s gone through depression then because he felt worthless, being a doctor and not being able to save her. I wanted her to appear and comfort my Dad. That’s why I wanted to believe that ghosts are real. I was hoping she’s still here to look out for us.”

Laura hasn’t told anyone of that story for a long time now and it makes her miss her Mom more than usual. She bites her lip when she realized she’s fighting off her tears. _Wow, great job Hollis. What a heavy discussion for a night stroll,_ she tells herself.

The brunette is quiet and Laura understands. What do you say after someone just opened up to you about something that emotional? She would probably need to think about it for minutes.

“She sounds like a lovely woman, your mom,” Carmilla says. “I’m sure - ghost or not - she definitely was looking out for you and your dad.”

At this, Laura nods, smiling at the thought of her mother. “Thanks, Carm.” She looks over to Carmilla and sees her biting her lip, as if she’s uneasy about something.

It’s then that Laura remembers. Carmilla’s reaction during their first day in camp, when they were talking about the parents during drop-off day; then Carmilla’s concern towards Julia; Carmilla understanding over the loneliness of isolation. Something has been really bugging Laura though and she’s not sure how to ask.

She realizes she has fallen a bit behind and even Carmilla doesn’t seem to have noticed it because she is lost in her own thoughts. “Carmilla, wait!” Laura calls out, grabbing her roommate’s wrist.

The brunette turns, an eyebrow raised. “I-I’m sorry. I-” she stammers, unsure of what to say. “You d-don’t seem to be comfortable t-talking about parents and -”

A loud rustling by the bushes interrupts Laura. She looks around, feeling her heart pound hard against her chest. Even Carmilla seems to have heard it. There’s another rustling and Laura’s grip tighten on Carmilla’s wrist. She lets out a breath that she did not know she was holding in and glances at Carmilla who is also looking warily at her.

Behind Laura’s fear is the curiosity. She really wants to see what is making the noise. “Do you think it’s a ghost?”

Carmilla looks at her like she’s gone mad. “Creampuff,” Laura can just see the way Carmilla’s eyes shift from her to the bushes that rustles again. “Not that I don’t admire your the enthusiasm for ghost adventures and all, but that could either be a ghost or whatever animal is roaming around the grounds at night and we should probably get out of here because I think it’s the latter.”

“But Carm,”

“You choose your battles, cutie,” She says firmly and Laura frowns in return. “We should radio in and distance ourselves from whatever-”

Out of the corner of her eyes, Laura sees something that makes her grasp Carmilla’s sleeves. “Carm, Carm!” She grips on to Carmilla’s sleeves as she steps behind the brunette. “I-I saw someone pass behind those trees!”

“This is not a time for jokes, creampuff.”

“Do I look like I’m joking, Carmilla?”

“Technically, I can’t see you ri-”

She stops talking and Laura gulps as they both hear footsteps from behind them. Carmilla turns, protectively placing Laura behind her; the two of them now facing a few trees. The brunette puts one foot forward, placing her weight on her foot in front, taking a defensive stance.

“Carmilla, let’s make a run for it,” Laura whispers, trying to pull her roommate away from where they’re standing but Carmilla doesn’t move. “Carmillaaa…”

“Shh,” the brunette hisses, placing a hand on Laura’s which is still gripping her sleeve.

The pounding in Laura’s heart is so hard that she thinks that Carmilla can most definitely feel it since she is pressed behind her. The only sound they’re hearing right now is their breathing and the sounds of leaves moving along with the night’s breeze.

And then behind her, Laura hears a twig snap. The two of them turn at the same time. She doesn’t have enough time to actually think of what she’ll do since there’s a shadow of a man rushing towards them. She doesn’t even have the time to scream. Instinct takes over her and she pulls Carmilla to the side and the man’s attempt to tackle them fails, missing them by a few inches. Somehow, Laura loses her footing and nearly falls down but Carmilla’s arms are immediately around her to steady her, pulling Laura to her.

Before the man could even fall to the ground, Laura’ foot, as if having a mind of its own, manages to kick whoever it was and sending him to ground a lot faster even as she's pressed against Carmilla.

“Ouch! Bro!”

_Bro?_

_“_ Kirsch!” JP comes out from behind the tree, turning his flashlight on now.

Carmilla groans exasperatedly, letting go of Laura and stomping towards Kirsch. “What the fuck?!”

There are two things Laura is trying to process in her brain as of the moment and that is: one, did Kirsch just really try to attack them; and two, having Carmilla hold her like that felt really nice.

She is very much aware that she has spaced out for a few good seconds at that thought.

“I told you it wasn’t a good idea,” Laura hears JP say as he helps Kirsch sit up.

“What the hell were you trying to pull, tackling us like that?!” Carmilla asks.

“I wasn’t going to try to tackle you two, I swear! I was just going to sneak up on you!” Kirsch raises his hands. “I tripped! I tripped! I didn’t realize my shoelaces were untied and it got caught up on some root and I staggered forward!”

“Did you think we were supposed to be fooling around?” Carmilla’s growling. Not good.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to try and scare you! We even just arrived! I swear we didn’t plan this until we saw you standing there while looking at the trees behind those bushes!”

“Dumbass! If Laura got hurt-” Carmilla glances at her. “You’re not hurt, are you?” Laura shakes her head.

“Got kicked by tiny nerd here.”

“You deserved it!”

 

* * *

 

 

Turns out, JP and Kirsch managed to find the hole, not on the fence, but under it, and they actually caught the culprit in the act of entering the camp. It was a medium-sized dog that Kirsch suspects to be from the nearby farm.

“We were supposed to tell you by radio but it turns out that the radio I grabbed is out of battery. After we filled the hole that the dog dug up, that’s when we thought of finding the two of you since our job’s done,” JP explains as they are now heading back outside the mess hall where they tied the dog and fed it.

Carmilla nods before turning to Kirsch and glaring at him. “And that’s when you thought of the brilliant plan to scare us,” she said in an accusing tone.

“I’m sorry, okay? I thought it would be a pretty funny idea in my head.”

“Yeah, until you went all clumsy and nearly pinned us to the ground, you manchild.”

Laura can still feel how annoyed Carmilla is so she reaches out for her roommate’s hand and gives it a squeeze.

“I’m still so sorry for kicking you Kirsch. It’s like reflex.” Laura says, looking over to the tall man who nods.

“Like lady bro said, I deserved it.” He shyly smiles.

A grunt escapes from Carmilla. “Damn right you do,” she grumbles softly and Laura giggles, nudging Carmilla on her side gently then letting go of her hand. She takes comfort at the fact that Carmilla still chose to stay close to her as they walk.

JP and Kirsch begin talking about how to find the dog's owner and where to let it stay for the night.

“That kick you did back there was pretty impressive cupcake.” Carmilla whispers to her.

“My dad made me take krav maga lessons before because he wanted to make sure I can protect myself,” she explains.

The counselor nods at her. “Ah, I do remember you mentioning you know krav maga,” she chuckles, glancing at Laura. She doesn’t seem to mind their current proximity and honestly, Laura doesn’t either.

But then she remembers what Carmilla has said. “When did I ever mention that?”

“You tried to threaten me when I entered the main cabin because you thought I was an intruder,” Laura still doesn’t remember and Carmilla seems to sense it so she laughs. “You were really drunk back then huh?”

At the mention of the word ‘drunk’, Laura’s hazy memory seem to have cleared up. The blush she feels spreading on her cheeks is unstoppable as she remembers the night when Carmilla carried her on her back because she’s too drunk to function. She’s thankful that it’s dark. “Ah, yeah,” she laughs nervously. “I remember now.”

Come to think of it, it was a night like this. It’s quiet and calm. The stars are out and are shining brightly above them. She looks over to Carmilla who is looking up at the stars again, just like that night.

 _“I owe the bunch of gasses up in the sky a lot,”_ Laura remembers Carmilla saying.

“That night, you also told me how you owe the stars a lot,” She says and Carmilla stiffens next to her.

“It’s-” Carmilla says, her gaze falling from the sky to the ground. Laura curses herself because clearly, the brunette beside her is uncomfortable again.

_How many times are you going to screw up tonight, Laura?!_

JP clears his throat, both their gazes lifting up to him. “Here’s our little intruder.” He points towards a dog who is now looking at them while wagging his tail. Laura can’t help but to squeal at how cute the dog looked. The dog looks like a crossbreed of a golden retriever and german shepherd. “He doesn’t have any dog tag or collar so we’ll have to ask around if anyone owns him or bring him to the animal shelter in the city.”

“I think we should keep him outside our cabin, JP,” Kirsch suggests.

JP nods. “Yeah, I was thinking about that too.”

The two men continue their discussion as if they have forgotten that Laura and Carmilla are with them. Laura only hears them but she is not quite listening. Her mind is still preoccupied with Carmilla. It is not surprising to her since her roommate has been the one she thinks of the most the past few days.

What surprises her is how when she looks back at Carmilla, she’s looking at her again with the very same expression that she had during their first breakfast together on camp when she purposely changed the topic after sensing Carmilla’s discomfort. The light from the patio of the mess hall illuminates her features -  from her eyes looking more soft rather than their usual guarded and sharp stares; her lips which are slightly parted as if there are words that are ready to come out from them; her eyebrows furrowed, showing a sign of the internal conflict she’s trying to solve.

And then suddenly, Laura understands. Carmilla has told her once how she’s not very good with words and the way Laura sees it, this is Carmilla, holding back. She doesn’t know what her roommate wants to say. All she knows is that there’s something that she _wants_ to say.

Laura nods at her with a small smile, wishing that would Carmilla understand that she’s not pressuring her to say anything. She’s willing to wait.

Seeing the way Carmilla relaxes, Laura knew her message came through.

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh, I thought you’d be asleep by now.” Carmilla looks up from the book she’s reading to the bathroom door where she stood. Laura tilts her head to side to let her hair fall down over her shoulders as she dries it with a towel.

She turns her gaze to Carmilla who is propped up on an elbow on her bed. She puts the book she was previously reading on her stomach and sits up. “I can tell you had a lot of questions about me earlier and I didn’t really give you an answer to any of them.”

“You don’t have to answer. Just because I told you about my Mom, doesn’t mean you have t-”

“I don’t feel obligated just because of that,” Carmilla protests. “I want to tell you.” There is something in the brunette’s eyes that are so intense that Laura thinks she can bore a hole through her. She can’t help but nod at her before sitting down on her own bed.

“I never met my real mother. I lived with my dad alone for a few years before he remarried. Since then, I grew up in an unhappy house. I can’t even call it a home. My stepmother thinks of their children as _investments._ She’s a woman all too obsessed with power and her properties. My father, whom she married for business ties, died when his and my stepmother’s son was only two years old and I was five.

The one who took care of us was Mother’s daughter from her first husband but she only stayed with us for a few years before she was sent to study abroad. Since then, I had to take care of Will on my own,” Carmilla pauses, taking a deep breath. She doesn’t look a Laura nor anywhere else. Her gaze is only trained on her hands which are clasped together on her lap.

“For years, Will and I lived in this huge, empty house. Mother was rarely home but when she was, she made sure we’re living up to her expectations - with our grades, our behaviors. And when we’re not...” Laura sees the way Carmilla’s hands tighten. Her chest hurts at the thought of a young Carmilla going through that much. “My mother enrolled both Will and I to prestigious schools to meet children of rich families then we’ll be fast friends. She forced us into friendships, you know? Used us to widen her connections. I bet it’s just the same with the so-called ‘friends’ I made. In school and at home, I never really felt wanted. I endured that and before I knew it, I was in high school. It was then when I met Ell.”

The way the name rolls off of Carmilla’s tongue makes Laura’s heart pound hard against her chest. For who, she cannot really tell. She does remember Carmilla mention the name once. A small, melancholic smile forms on her roommate's lips, probably at the memory of this person. Laura can tell how much Carmilla cared for this person just by her tone and the expression on her face.

She continues, “The agreement was the same. We became fast friends. Only this time, none of it was forced. I actually liked having Ell around. Eventually, Ell and I entered a relationship. That was the happiest I’ve felt. Everything was going smoothly until Mother found out.

She didn’t want anyone to know how her daughter is a lesbian. Mother thinks it’s a blunder to her image. She told me to break up with Ell but I can’t just leave her. At my refusal, my mother dropped me out of the school I went to. She cut me off with the outside world and I was stuck inside my room. I was homeschooled. I rarely saw Will but whenever he got the chance, I’d tell him to talk to Ell. One day, Will just came home telling me that Ell was with someone else now. A guy. It turns out my mother told her how I became scared of going to school because I was just confused with my feelings for her and how I knew it was wrong. She also threatened her to not insist on seeing me anymore or else she’ll tell her parents about how she corrupted me. Ell must have been mortified, being in that situation. Her parents didn’t know about her and I guess, that’s enough to scare her off. I don’t blame her for replacing me immediately. She needed to cover up for the rumors spreading about after all - that I dropped out because I was dragged into a lesbian relationship that according to my mother, I didn’t want. I was never able to talk to Ell since.”

Fragile. Laura thinks that she’s never seen Carmilla look this fragile before. Her legs are now pressed against her chest as she hugs her knees and she’s hiding her face from Laura. “The stars,” The brunette mumbles, almost inaudible in the dirty-blonde’s ears. “I found comfort in them. Every night I’d look up at them and think how there’s something much bigger than the problem I’m going through - at least, that’s how I tried to comfort myself. Be it my naivety or just me, trying to hang on to whatever hope I had of leaving that place, the stars made me feel that I’m not alone.”

It is then that Carmilla stops. And just like that, Carmilla’s falling apart. As soon as Laura heard her first sob, she immediately stands and walks over to her roommate.

Carefully, Laura sits on Carmilla’s bed facing her, she doesn’t do anything yet in particular - just letting the girl opposite her know that she’s currently in her space. Carmilla doesn’t seem to mind.

“Carm,” Laura says, placing a hand on the brunette’s head. “I’m going to hug you now.” She feels the small nod from the girl. Laura kneels on the bed in front of Carmilla who raises her head.

Laura doesn’t expect the way her roommate looks when she looks up that she’s sure that her heart nearly leapt out of her chest at the sight of it. She wraps her arm around Carmilla’s neck, being mindful that she should not hug her so tight. She wishes she can keep the girl in her arms from falling apart. Laura knows she cannot change the past but she sure can affect the present. “You’re not alone anymore,” She whispers.

“I know.”

Neither of them move. Laura waits for Carmilla’s breathing to even out while Carmilla allows herself to be vulnerable in front of Laura.

When the brunette moves, straightening her back, Laura lets go and sits on the bed. “Hey.”

Carmilla gives her a small smile. “Hey.” She smiles back. “I’m sorry for being a crying mess.”

“Dummy,” Laura pokes her on her forehead. “Don’t be sorry for that. I’m the one who was asking questions and was curious about you,” Laura replies. “If anyone should be sorry, it should be me.”

“Laura.” Carmilla reaches out for her hand before shaking her head. “I’ll admit that it’s something I don’t just talk about but, somehow I felt like I could tell you.”

 _I trust you,_ is definitely what Carmilla wants to say, or at least that is what Laura thinks. She knows how her roommate isn’t the most vocal person there is but the fact that Carmilla told her about her life gives her a strange feeling of pride.

Of course, even if she’s proud of how much her friendship with this girl has improved, she feels a strong feeling of resentment after hearing Carmilla’s story.

How can someone’s own mother make her children feel so unwanted? _So unloved?_ While she only had her mother for barely eleven years, she has always felt loved by her. It was not like she doesn’t know about how abusive some parents are. Of course she had heard stories about it but she now realizes how much of a luxury it is to not know what happens. Luxury in a way, because she has no idea what it’s like and what occurs. But the fact that she had no clue makes her feel sorry for those who have.  When she hears about things like this, she feels sympathy for the children and anger for the parents.

The people who have been through abuse though, must be different. Laura does not know what it feels to live in a house that does not feel like a home.

But Carmilla does.

She’s able to tell how Julia might be in the same situation because she’s been there. Being concerned for Julia must remind her of how painful it is to experience the neglect, the loneliness. It must bring back nightmares she sees someone going through the same thing she went through. Now Laura can tell why Carmilla had always had a soft spot for the little girl.

“You know, my mother must have been so tired of me by the time I went to university. She told me to take a business course but I enrolled for arts and philosophy. The look on her face when she found out was funny and she had been really pissed at me for it but she let it slide,” Carmilla says. “I should have known she’s done something though. As soon as I graduated, I can’t get a job anywhere since she basically had me blacklisted in companies.”

“Your mother’s scary,” Laura comments. It dawns on her that being able to do the things she did to Carmilla, she must be scary rich. Come to think of it, Laura has told Carmilla about her life and her previous job during one night of them talking until they fell asleep but Carmilla has never mentioned anything about herself. “If you don’t mind me asking, what does your mother do?”

The brunette must realize that she had never mentioned it because she makes a small ‘oh’ sound. “Ever heard of Lilita Morgan?”

Lilita… Lilita…

Laura deadpans at Carmilla. “Lilita Morgan -” She mumbles. “- as in the owner of Morgan Hotels and Resorts? She’s your mom?”

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

Back when Laura was working solely as Elsie’s assistant, she once accompanied Elsie to an interview with Lilita Morgan for a feature article they were doing on women’s month. It was a very unpleasant experience for her since she can’t help but feel the woman’s cold eyes behind the smile she had plastered on her face. “Well that’s… terrifying.” Carmilla nods, wiping the trails of tears on her cheek. “So, what brought you to camp?”

Carmilla shrugs as she leans her chin against her knees and lets out a deep breath. “I bet it’s another one of my Mother’s charity stunts. Either way, after this, she said she’s going to stop annoying me about helping out with the hotel. I don’t want to be involved in anything that has to do with her.”

“I don’t blame you. Your mom is kind of a b-” Laura trails off, wondering if Carmilla would take offense if she called her mother what she was about to call her. “- bad person,” she finishes.

This makes Carmilla laugh, probably knowing what Laura meant to say. “Agreed.” Unintentionally, it is then when Laura feels a yawn coming. She tries to suppress it and fails. “I should let you sleep, cutie.” The nickname makes Laura smile because at least that’s a sign that she’s feeling a bit like herself already.

“Yeah, I guess you should too. It’s been such a long day.” Laura nods, standing up from Carmilla’s bed. To her surprise though, the brunette reaches out for her hand and gives it a gentle, comforting squeeze.

“Earlier,” She says. “When you told me that you liked being with me,” Carmilla lets out a deep breath, looking down as if she’s hesitating but somehow, she strengthens her resolve and looks up at Laura with a smile. “Thank you.”

_She’s so beautiful._

Laura thinks as she catches her breath. She briefly wonders if Carmilla noticed how she just took her breath away but she can’t bring herself to care - at least for now. She reassuringly squeezes Carmilla’s hand back. “I mean it.”

After the two of them realized that they’ve been holding onto each other’s hand for a while now and they’ve exchanged ‘goodnights’, Laura goes back to her bed while Carmilla lies down on hers.

It really is a good night -

\- until Laura remembers how Kirsch said that he and JP just arrived when they saw her and Carmilla looking at the trees beyond the bushes.

That would mean that whatever was making the noise behind the bushes and whoever Laura saw walk past the trees were neither Kirsch nor JP.

“Carm, are you still awake?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is unbeta'd because I posted it as soon as I finished reading it as a whole for the first time. Hopefully, I managed to eliminate the errors. If not, my apologies.
> 
> Oh, by the way! I have been infested with this fluffy Office AU idea for Hollstein while I was trying to give my mind a breather from Camp Silas. Please do check it out if you've got nothing to do. 
> 
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/7943668/chapters/18159826
> 
> Thanks buddies! See you soon~

**Author's Note:**

> This work is inspired by this tumblr post: http://wumbology.co.vu/post/120937347501/okay-but-carmilla-camp-takota-au.
> 
> Track tumblr tag: '#carmilla scau' for infos/updates and '#camp silas' for randomness (aka when I'm ranting and/or rambling about this). Have inquiries or suggestions? Talk to me on tumblr: bluebloodedphantom


End file.
